Do Sasha And Malia Need A Stimulus?

President Obama's economic stimulus bill may have left out two people -- his daughters.

Janet Bodnar, editor of "Kiplinger's Personal Finance" magazine says she thinks Sasha and Malia should get their own economic boost, an increase in their weekly allowance.

Bodnar wrote a letter in the magazine with what she calls "a serious purpose," which she shared with Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith.

"Reports are that the two Obama girls get a buck a week as an allowance. And now at 7 and 10, that's not enough money to allow them to make choices with their money, which is exactly what you are supposed to do with an allowance. 'How am I going to save it? How am I going to spend it?'" she said.

"Assume you are in a position to actually give your children an allowance. Is there kind of a hard and fast rule of thumb of how much to give?" Smith asked.

"I have the Janet Bodner rule of thumb, which is wait until the allowance is equal to half a child's age. That's a good starting point. Parents seem to feel comfortable with it, number one. Kids can have money to manage, number two, and if you want to increase the allowance or give them additional opportunities to earn money, you can do that," she said.

Smith pointed out that the president says that allowance is tied to chores and everything else, but his kids were doing their chores regardless.

"Should this be tied to chores?" Smith asked.

"It should be tied to what I call financial chores or financial jobs. So, you aren't just giving kids extra money on top of everything you spend on them. You turn over some of your financial responsibilities to them. It could be paying for movies, paying for refreshments at the movies, paying for things they like to collect, souvenirs when they travel with mom and dad," she said.

During the campaign, President Obama admitted that he often forgot to give the girls their allowance and they would come up and say "You owe us for like ten weeks, right?"

Bodnar suggests that there should be an actual distribution system.

"Sure. Because every parent has been through this. It's funny. Normally I tell parents do it at the same time every week, at a certain place, maybe it's the kids' room. It could be the Lincoln bedroom. Just think of it. Lots of opportunities in the White House," she said.

Giving your children allowance can help teach them independence and the importance of money management skills.

"You can use an allowance to teach saving if that's important to you. You could require the kids to save 10 percent of their income. Or if you have charitable giving that's important to you. Whatever is important to your family, you can pass along to your kids. It's all money management skills," she said.