So Tage will be thirteen next month (I know, I can’t even with the passage of time) and that means, according to family tradition and Swedish law, that he’ll be able to open his own bank account. To do so, he needs to have an ID card, so Olof and I took him to the police station this afternoon to apply for one. He’s very much looking forward to being able to handle his own banking, as well as to the rather significant increase in allowance he’ll be getting. Up until they’re teenagers, our kids get a small weekly allowance that gets slightly larger at each birthday, but once they get their own accounts, we switch to giving them a larger monthly allowance and making it their responsibility to buy more of their own “necessities”.

In Lydia’s case, most of those necessities were related to clothing and cosmetics, but I’m guessing that Tage’s money will go mostly toward electronics and assorted game paraphernalia. He’s not at all into clothes, and we do continue to provide the basics as far as wardrobe and toiletries are concerned, so I can’t really think of anything that we buy for him now that we won’t keep on buying. He’s always been a pretty good saver, so maybe he’ll stash away some cash and be able to buy himself something extra good before too long. I know that he’s got his eye on a new Android phone, among other things.