You'd think I would have learnt by now. Every time it happens, I kick myself, remembering the vow I swore last time I was in a retail outlet with one of my children. They ask. They plead. They wheedle. They bargain. They strop. They call you all the mean mums under the sun, all because they can't have that nasty piece of plastic tat which has suddenly become so desirable to them. Never, ever take your children shopping!

It's Pasta who is the worst at the moment. Being of an age (6) where she blithely believes that if you don't have enough money, you can just go to the cash machine and get some more, she mercilessly pecks at my head any time I pop into a charity shop, pound stretcher, wherever. This weekend, we were somewhere, and she asked me for something; I said no. She asked why. I said, because you have enough toys, and you can't have everything you ask for instantly, and besides, I don't have enough money. She chose to gloss over the fact that she has enough toys. The fact that she cannot have everything she asks for instantly is just too painful for her to contemplate. So she focused, for the next hour or so, on the money thing.

'Let's look for money' she suggested... and 'if I find 10p, what can I buy with it?' After I'd patiently listed a few things that weren't sweets which one might be able to acquire, she started on 'if I find 11p, what can I buy with it?' and so on. Then it was 'who will give me some money?' and 'why didn't I get money for my birthday like Peanut did?' Money, money, money.

I'm well aware that this is an important developmental stage, and that she will get the hang of it at some point, and that my job is just to instil in her a healthy attitude towards money, and its value relative to other things in life such as happiness, friends, etc. I'm sure she'll learn that without much bother. But oh, it's painful! And yes! My patience elastic band frequently snaps...

Peanut is spending a significant portion of her pocket money on sweets. Non-vegan ones at that! Now this, I have decided to turn a blind eye to, as making a fuss about it will inevitably cause her to rebel. And when I think about my sweet-deprived childhood, and the obsession I had with spending any cash I could get my hands on on Creme Eggs, I sympathise with her! She's otherwise the healthiest kid you could met, with an appetite like a horse, always appreciative of my cooking - what mother doesn't love that!

I'm thinking of linking her weekly pound in to tasks around the house. When she's in the right frame of mind, she can be very helpful, and I have no desire to rope her in to arduous duties for no reason. But maybe having to wash up a few times a week will make her think twice about wasting hard-earned cash on sweets... no, who am I kidding...

I think Peanut was six when she started to get pocket money. But Pasta is less mature than Peanut at the same age. So her burgeoning desire for material goods has prompted some creative alternatives to pocket money on demand... Pasta has to work for her pennies! She charges 5p for 'hairdressing' (I could sit for ever while someone puts slides, clips and bobbles in my hair) and 5p for 'massage' (in reality, sharp fingernails jabbed into my back unevenly, but still, it's the nearest I get to a massage these days, so it will do). Exploitation? I think not! Child labour? Maybe so, but it's all for a good cause... her technique is slowly improving, plus, she has accumulated one pound sixty-six to date.

She is planning on spending it all at the local school fair at the weekend... hmmm, more plastic tat. I'd better get surreptitiously culling some toys from the playroom to make room for it all.