Giving kids allowances in the smart-phone

Allowances are a constant. No matter how much technology interferes with the parent-child relationship, kids still want money and parents still want to impart(赋予)a basic work ethic. But putting stickers on chore(日常事务)charts and dropping coins in piggy banks don't cut it with the smart-phone generation.

Parents in search of more 【小题1】 ways to teach children the value of money are turning to allowance-tracking apps, where kids can see their 【小题2】 rise and fall in real time.

Bonnie Koon, a mother of three in Crawfordville, Fla., used to post a calendar on her refrigerator 【小题3】 her kids chores, to the embarrassment of her 16-year-old twins. After seeing a Facebook ad for the app Green-light, she 【小题4】 it.

Green-light links to parents' bank accounts so that the payout can be seamless. Parents can encourage saving by paying interest on the money that isn’t spent 【小题5】 -- interest out of the parents' own pockets, of course.

It's the first taste of 【小题6】 freedom for many kids, and it's set in a relatively safe environment. Parents can determine spending limits and choose the retailers(零售商)where a child can make 【小题7】. If a child attempts to buy something at an unapproved store or to spend more than the limit, the transaction(交易)is 【小题8】 and parents get a notification. And if a kid loses the card, parents can immediately cancel it from the app.

One of Ms. Koon's twins. Brenna, works part time at a restaurant. She's putting half of her pay check into a car-insurance savings fund she set up in the app, whit the goal of saving $450 by July. With each 【小题9】, the app gives Brenna a progress update.

Some parents might worry that relying on apps to get kids to do chores only encourages them to be on their phones more. But parents who have chosen this approach argue that they are meeting their kids where they are and that it takes the 【小题10】 nagging(唠叨)out of the equation. The real-time look at their accounts makes the concepts of saving and spending more tangible than reviewing a bank statement.

Lillie Marie Johnson clears her mind and closes her eyes and, suddenly, she is back inside the steamy summers of the 1930s, running barefoot over the Appalachian hills and down into the valleys beside her uncle — more like a brother, really —gathering【小题1】 berries and wildflowers for her grandma.

As she rocks (摇动) in her chair in the living room of her home just outside the Ohio River town of Marietta, she opens her eyes and understands【小题2】 that in the here and now, a new and exciting day is coming: Her beloved uncle, soldier James Wilmer White, is about to be brought back to be buried where he belongs, 77 years after he was killed in World War II.

“There are no words to describe it, honey,” said the 93-year-old Johnson. “We have waited 77 years, but we never knew where he might have been. The news of having him back really inspired【小题3】 us.”

A funeral has been set【小题4】 for June 12 for White, and he will be buried with full military honors in White Cemetery (公墓) on Bashan Road in rural and nearby Meigs County. It was there in rural Meigs County where the White family all grew up.

Family Patterns in Modern Britain

There are many different family patterns in modern Britain. The family is a central institution of modern British society, at least in the 【小题1】 that almost everybody has had experience of living in a family at some time in their lives.

One pattern that was 【小题2】 in the 1950s and covers about one in eight families today is where the parents and married children live 【小题3】 together but in separate houses. The family bond 【小题4】 strong and mothers and daughters are 【小题5】 to meet each other most days to talk or help each other. This pattern 【小题6】 more often in settled communities rather than in 【小题7】 ones, in the north of England rather than in the south, and in working class rather than middle-class families.

Another pattern is where parents and married children live further apart (usually about an hour’s car 【小题8】 from each other). Many of them meet only once or twice a month but keep in 【小题9】 by telephone and help each other when necessary. This pattern is growing and 【小题10】 about half of the population. It is found especially in middle-class families in the south-east of England.