money matters

Paula and Nic are so different in how they manage money. 

Paula will spend every dime she gets as quickly as possible.  She would buy knick knacks and is very impulsive.  Good thing she doesn't know about credit cards yet.

Nic is a saver.  He likes to save for the big ticket items.  He's also very generous with his savings, always offering to buy things for me (he's such a mama's boy).

So last night we went clothes shopping for Tet (Vietnamese New Year's).  Paula wanted sky blue glittery/shimmering skinny pants.  I said "no".  When it was time to pay, Nic brings me the same pants and said that he was buying it for Paula with his Christmas money.  He was excited with his negotiation with Paula...she was going to throw in $10 towards the pants so he didn't have to pay the full price!  I was so furious with Paula...1) for bypassing my decision to not buy her the pants 2) for taking advantage of Nic's generosity and naivete.  You see...she has $20 from babysitting; Nic has $150 from Christmas that he has not cashed in yet.  She convinced her brother to spend his Christmas money to buy her stuff and she wasn't even going to contribute all of her money towards it.  I gave her the whole speech about how important it is to be an "independent girl" when she grows up...to earn her own money and pay for her own things....and especially NOT to take advantage of other people's money...

Just to clarify, I don't make my kids pay for their own clothes.  This is the first time they have "money" to manage ..I thought it was a good idea for them to understand the value of money...but maybe they are too young and I'm being too harsh towards Paula?