Short answer
Yes. Voluntary sadaqah to your parents, children, spouse or any relative is allowed and carries extra reward. Only zakat and other obligatory charity, such as zakat al-fitr, kaffarah and vowed charity, cannot go to your parents, grandparents, children, grandchildren or spouse. The four schools agree.
Voluntary (nafl) sadaqah to one's parents, children and spouse is valid and rewarded. Obligatory charities, namely zakat, sadaqat al-fitr, kaffarah and nadhr, may not be given to them.
The four schools agree on this.
Explanation
The rule that you cannot give zakat to your parents or children applies only to obligatory charity. Voluntary sadaqah has no such limit. In fact the Prophet ﷺ said that of the money you spend in Allah's way, on freeing a slave, on a poor person and on your family, the greatest in reward is what you spend on your family.
In the time of the Prophet ﷺ a man named Yazid left some coins in the mosque to be given in charity, and his own son Ma'n took them. Yazid objected that he had not meant his son. He said: you have what you intended, Yazid, and you have what you took, Ma'n. The father was rewarded for his charity, and it was lawful for the son.
A few points:
- If your parents are poor, supporting them is an obligation, not an extra, but you are still richly rewarded for it.
- Gifts to well-off parents or children are gifts, and are rewarded as kindness and keeping family ties.
- Obligatory charities, meaning zakat, zakat al-fitr, kaffarah and vowed charity (nazr), must go to others; see zakat to family members.
Brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles and cousins may receive both sadaqah and, if eligible, zakat. See also rights of parents.
The evidence
Quran, Surah Al-Baqara 2:215
يَسْـَٔلُونَكَ مَاذَا يُنفِقُونَ ۖ قُلْ مَآ أَنفَقْتُم مِّنْ خَيْرٍۢ فَلِلْوَٰلِدَيْنِ وَٱلْأَقْرَبِينَ وَٱلْيَتَٰمَىٰ وَٱلْمَسَٰكِينِ وَٱبْنِ ٱلسَّبِيلِ ۗ وَمَا تَفْعَلُوا۟ مِنْ خَيْرٍۢ فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ بِهِۦ عَلِيمٌۭ ﴿٢١٥﴾
They ask you, [O Muhammad], what they should spend. Say, "Whatever you spend of good is [to be] for parents and relatives and orphans and the needy and the traveler. And whatever you do of good - indeed, Allah is Knowing of it."
Parents are named first among those to spend on.
Sahih Muslim 995
Sahih... أعظمها أجرا الذي أنفقته على أهلك ...
"The greatest of them in reward is what you spend on your family."
Spending on family is the best of voluntary spending.
Sahih al-Bukhari 1422
Sahih... لك ما نويت يا يزيد ولك ما أخذت يا معن ...
"You have what you intended, Yazid, and you have what you took, Ma'n."
A father's voluntary charity reaching his son was valid and rewarded.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Hidaya, Kitab al-Zakat, chapter on those to whom zakat may and may not be paid. Zakat may not be paid to one's parents, children or spouse.
- Radd al-Muhtar, Kitab al-Zakat, chapter on the recipients. The same bar applies to all obligatory charities; voluntary charity to them is allowed.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.