“I want your phone,” declares my two-year-old after breakfast.

“No,” I respond.

“I want your phone,” she reiterates. Again, she’s met with a resounding no. She decides to move on.

“I want your tablet,” she counters, hoping to get a rise out of me. Even more so, she asks hoping that I give her something to stop her requests.

Smartphones, tablets, game consoles, and other expensive toys have dominated our children’s lives in the past few years and the anticipated costs of raising children will continue to rise as their “toys” become increasingly luxurious.

But how do you make the children more responsible? How do you help them understand the value of their (and your) things?

You make them pay.