How much is sufficient enough...

First it was the case of Adnan Patrawala and now Mukim Khan. Both have fallen prey to their friends. In both cases the friends came from a lower income group compared to the victims. Even though the income status difference of both is huge, both in their own capacities used to spend money on themselves as well as friends. In case of Mukim, his parents have also supported the culprits family financially. In both cases the friends hatched up plan of extracting more money from the family, but leading to loss of life.

This is leading me to one question. How much money should one give to ones child as pocket money? What should be the level of restraint on the money being spent on the friends. Should parents also keep a tab on the friends financial status. In doing so, inadvertently the parents most of the times end up supporting the family also, if they try to interfere too much.

This prospect is really scary, since even I have a school going child, who has started demanding pocket money daily. He is sharing things bought in the school with his friends. Be it a chocolate, a jelly or any eatable. I am afraid of this generosity or friendliness being wrongly directed as in the above two cases. In Mukims case I would have ignored it being that all three were from low income groups, but Adnans case of very high profile high income group family affair. So such cases are just not limited to any income group.

I cannot tell my child dont share with your friend or dont spend on him, because he needs to learn sharing, and is too small to understand the world outside is not a simple one. Today if I limit his pocket money to a simple bar of chocolate, the query is what if my friend comes along to buy and what if his parents have not given him pocket money for the day. Its a practical problem I am facing, and most parents will agree to it. If I dont give him pocket money, the peer pressure is always there. Schools have officially kept such commercial canteens in their premises.  They should also avoid commercialization of their spaces, which will always lead to kids asking for pocket money. On one hand schools write in their year books, asking parents not to give pocket money, and on the other end, they have canteens and shops in their premises, selling wares, which require money, and that money has to be in the pocket of the students.

Can anybody take the load of my head?

Its a parents cry for help......