In my opinion, a child, tween, or teenager should be a little apprehensive when asking their parent to buy them something expensive. I know I didn’t ask my parents to buy me material things that cost over $100 frequently when I was a kid, even though I knew buying them wouldn’t bankrupt us. It’s one thing if you need sneakers for gym class, but no kid needs a video game console or fast food for dinner three times a week. Giving in to those demands as a parent will only make a kid worse at creating financial boundaries for themselves when they’re an adult. That’s how you end up with a 23-year-old with five figures of credit card debt, because Mommy never told them no, so why should they tell themselves no? When I was a teenager, I got a job not because I wanted to save money, but because I wanted to spend $200 on a wig that looked like the hair of my hometown’s most famous real estate agent, and that’s a lot better than asking my parents for the money to make such a frivolous purchase.