You can pay me now or pay me later

Some of us remember that old car oil filter commercial where the object lesson was pay for regular oil changes (with their filter of course) or pay for expensive engine repairs later. Cline and Fay use this strategy in allowing kids to learn lesser expense lessons early in life as opposed to very expensive lessons later in life. Love and Logic tip #2 says the oder a child gets, the bigger the decisions become, and the graver the consequences of those decisions. These early mistakes allowed by wise parents are usually at affordable prices that involve temporary pain and a few tears. Mouthing off to an older, bigger kid may result in a black eye on the playground but a parent who protects their child from the consequences of their behavior may face a bigger problem when a teen mouths off to a police officer. They illustrate a friend who  they observed handing out money to their kids. An inquiry revealed the parent was making loans with due dates, promissory notes and collateral. The parent revealed a recently repossessed $29 tape recorder. They observed that a neighbor kid at 26 years old learned the same lesson when the bank repossessed his Camaro. Their kid has a 16 year head start on the neighbor kid. Is allowing a black eye love?