Mom is wanting pocket money. I have given her 20 dollars twice now. Everything is paid for in her monthly rent. The money is disappearing from her possessions. She needs this "reality" of ownership by having money in her pocket. Guess I should just consider someone is getting an extra "tip"? Don't think I should report it?
Whatever you give Mom you'll have to consider expendable. It may or may not get used by your mother. If she really can't be talked out of wanting cash, I'd limit it to a few one-dollar bills.
About the only things she does need "extra" are carry-in lunches once a month or so, a monthly trip to WalMart and her weekly hair appointments. All of these come out of her petty cash account. I'm not sure she quite gets that, but at least she accepts it now. We do give her cash periodically for a tip to the hairdresser, so she can feel good about that payment -- but it is not given days ahead of time!
The NH account has been explained to relatives so if they want to gift mom a hair styling or a WalMart outing they can deposit money in that account and write it in a card to Mom. This works out very well.
The transition period when they still think they need cash can be hard on everyone! I'd try to minimize the stress with very small amounts of cash for the wallet.