"He enjoyed the trip, which exposed him to Qinghai's stunning landscape and the different lifestyles of the people there. He now realizes that big spending has its rewards," Wu says.

Luo, on the other hand, wants her 11-year-old son to live frugally. If the boy wants to buy something, he has to first persuade his parents and grandparents.

Luo says there was a time her son fancied online games and asked for money to buy virtual currencies. But since the boy had little time left after homework to play online games, Luo declined his request.

"I asked him to think about whether he would really spend all that virtual money, or did he just want it to show off to his classmates," she says.

Last year, following the devastating earthquake that hit Sichuan, the primary school Luo's son attends, organized a donation drive to help children in the quake-hit areas. Many students donated 400 to 1,000 yuan. Luo's son said he wanted to stand out by donating the most.

Luo says she was sad to see that students had turned even a charity effort into an opportunity to show off the family wealth. She took 400 yuan out of her son's red envelope and asked him to collect another 200 yuan by doing odd jobs. The boy sold a stack of old newspapers he had saved for a year. He also helped wash the dishes and sweep the floor, for which he was paid 10 yuan each time.

"He didn't do a thorough cleaning, but he learnt of the hardship of earning money. I told him the children in Sichuan would appreciate the efforts he had made more than the amount he donated," Luo says.

Parents of older children are increasingly encouraging them to learn about wealth management.

Pan Minghua, mother of a 17-year-old in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, had been quite satisfied with her son's spending habits, until he spent an allowance of 1,000 yuan given by his grandfather in just two weeks last year. She checked his mobile phone bill and found her son had spent a lot on calls to his girlfriend. So she started asking him to maintain daily accounts.

"He now has savings of more than 7,000 yuan. I encourage him to invest his money. He is old enough to know about stocks and wealth planning. I don't want him to become someone who spends all his money or depends on his parents, after he graduates from college," Pan says.