DR. WALLACE: My brother and I are 16 and 17, respectively. My parents were never fans of formal allowances, but when my brother or I needed a few dollars for some reasonable purpose, they would usually give us close to what we wanted, or at least what they felt we actually needed.

But now that my brother just turned 16 during the first week of January, my father said that we would no longer be given random cash for random needs. Instead, he said, we'd now be receiving a formal allowance!

This at first sounded like music to my ears, and I envisioned all the great ways I was going to spend my windfall of cash. After all, my brother and I have been doing chores in our home for years without a formal allowance, so it seemed high time to cash in on all our previous work, plus the ongoing chores we continue doing to this day.

Imagine my surprise when my father outlined the "new" allowance rules! He said that he expected us to get a job outside of the family home and that he'd match any earnings we generated up to roughly $400 per month, payable up to $100 per week. By work he included babysitting, doing yardwork for neighbors or simply getting a formal job like bagging groceries at our local supermarket. This means we have to earn money first, before he will give us even one cent! I think this is very unfair! An allowance should be for chores done at home; don't you agree?

And one more rule that I should tell you about: He requires us to open saving accounts at any bank of our choosing and we have to deposit the "matching" amount of our earnings into the bank to get our "cash" allowance, and we have to leave it there while we are getting an allowance. If we take that money out of the bank, our cash allowance from our parents will end! I complained that he was capping our spending ability, but he said that we only had to bank the "matching limit," which means that if we were to earn, say, $700 in a month we'd only have to deposit $400 to get the $400 allowance so we could either spend or save part or all of the other $300!

All these rules made my head swim, but my crazy little brother actually liked them! My question to you is, do you think our parents are being fair with us, or are they tricking and manipulating us with their new allowance ploy? — I Feel Manipulated, via email

I FEEL MANIPULATED: Except for being a bit hard to follow at the first blush, I feel your father is not only being quite generous with the two of you, but he's seeking to build some valuable savings habits for each of you as well.

I'll readily admit that I've never heard of such an "allowance plan" like the one he has proposed to you and your brother. Yet if you think carefully about it, it does have its merits.

Your parents are basically going to double the first $400 or so per month that you and your brother earn from a local neighborhood job or a formal job at a company in your town. That's great, and the fact that they are going to allow you two to work a few hours every week (so long as you can keep up with your studies) provides an excellent life experience opportunity as well.

You'll both quickly learn the value of a dollar earned, a dollar saved and a dollar spent. I'd be interested to hear from other teens if they like the plan your parents have proposed, or if they feel it is subpar to a simple, modest weekly stipend.

I REALLY LOVE PIZZA!

DR. WALLACE: Is it bad for a teenager like me to eat pizza for lunch and dinner six days a week? Our family always has a home cooked meal every Sunday evening, but the rest of the days of the week I prefer pizza!

My mom often gets us fast food of some sort or canned soup anyhow, so I told her the other day that I wanted to eat pizza for every afternoon and evening meal except on Sundays, when she cooks us a big, full fancy meal.

But my mom thinks that eating pizza so much is unhealthy. What do you say about this? — Love My Pizza, via email

LOVE MY PIZZA: First, let's define what type of "pizza" you're consuming. If you eat very fattening slices of pizza then you'll be almost certain to start to gain more weight than you'd like to.

Pizza with saturated fat-laced meats like sausage will add a lot of fattening calories versus a slice with only a few vegetables on it.

Thin crust pizza can be up to 70 calories per slice lower as opposed to some of the hand tossed or stuffed crust pizzas. So, if you were to eat just a slice or two of "lean" pizza rather than "fattening" pizza, you'd dramatically cut down on your calorie intake. But in any case, eating only one type of food for most of the week is not likely to provide you the overall nutritional intake your body requires.

Your mother's point is well-taken. If you want to have any sort of argument to make back to her, you'll need to be presenting a very lean version of pizza as part of your point. Otherwise, your mother wins this point easily — but she should present you with better and healthier options than simply other fast foods or canned soups.

Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. Email him at [email protected]. To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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