Allowance. How much? What do they have to do to earn it?

[ParisApril]

I was watching a News program and they gave this formula for giving your kids allowance.

Children aged 1-10:

Age x 2

Children aged 11 and older:

Age x 3

Example child age 5 x 2 =$10 a week

Is it just me or is that insane? My 3 year old would be getting $6 a week for doing... well looking cute.

Do you give an allowance? How much? What do they have to do to earn it?

[zinemama]

5yo ds gets .50/week

8yo ds gets $1/week

They don't earn their allowance. It is completely unassociated with the routine chores we expect them to do in any case because they are members of our family. I think associating allowance with chores is a bad idea.

[Breeder]

My DS1 gets a buck a week... he is six.

[tinyblackdot]

Man! I wish ihad gotten $33 a week when i was 11! thats alot of teen bop magazines!

We just started using $$$ as a reward....Maddie get coins ("treasure") for going potty.

[Amys1st]

My 6 yr old DD gets $6 a week. Next year, she will get $7 a week. When her sister is 5, she will get $5 a week.

How it works out:

$1 goes into the collection basket at church. The other is for what she wants to do that week. Usually it justs goes into her piggy bank (has about $30 in there now). But it really comes in handy. If the ice cream man comes by, she can buy some with her money, at the pool in the summer, her allowance buys her snacks at the snack bar- licorice rope, candy bar or ice cream etc. A few weeks ago, she bought books at the book fair at school. DH met her after school with $15 of her dollars and she bought herself 2 and her sister 1 with her own money. She then put the change back in her bank.

Yesterday at school at the PTA sponsored Holiday shoppe, she was able to buy gifts for all of us. Of course we opend them today because she was too excited to wait another 2 weeks! She also was able to buy herself something as well.

I think this is more for us than here at this point. If we put aside $6 a week, I dont have to get nickled and dimed to death. But also, this way, she can say how the money is spent and can learn from spending too much or saving. So whenever something comes home that requires a few dollars, she has the money for it. She takes great pride in being able to do this plus saving her money for something special to buy which she has.

I do know a few people who were not purchasing at the book fair because they are stretched a bit right now. When they heard my idea, they are starting to put the allowance into their lives now as well.


When I was growing up, my parents in my teen years gave me $25 a week during the summer. But I babysat my younger sister for 10 hours a week. Then I could pay for whatever I wanted or needed then. DH's parents gave him $25 a week until he was in college. That paid for gas if he drove, lunch at school, extra clothing items etc. He also mowed a neighbor's lawn until after college and made $25 a week doing that.

[Embee]

Originally Posted by ParisApril

Is it just me or is that insane? My 3 year old would be getting $6 a week for doing... well looking cute.

Indeed!

Originally Posted by ParisApril

Do you give an allowance? How much? What do they have to do to earn it?

We started giving DS an allowance around his 6th birthday. He received $5 per week for that year. At 7, we increased it to $5.50. If our budget allows, we'll increase it to $6 when he turns 8 in a few weeks.

We have no interest in being DS's employers. We don't want to put ourselves in the position of policing DS's "work" and assessing if he's earned the money (or not). For us, this approach opens up way too many roads to future power struggles. So,we decided if we were to give DS an allowance, we'd use it as one more way of showing DS how to give unconditionally (by our own example). Our chief interest in giving DS his own money however, is giving him a vehicle for learning how to manage his own money. In that, we don't tell him how to allocate it. He's free to spend, save and donate as he wishes, have his own successes and perhaps more importantly, his own failures. His main model for managing his money is of course, DH and I. We make sure that DS is included in discussions on the family budget (at least from time to time), and that he has the opportunity to see us donating, saving and spending wisely. Of course, he's also aware of the few times when we've been impulsive or otherwise regretful of certain choices which I feel has been beneficial as well.

To a lesser degree, we felt it would just be a nice thing for DS to have his own pocket money. For one, it eliminates him asking for things because he knows if he has the money he can purchase items himself, or if he doesn't have enough, he can save for them. This has been nice for us both and we have few issues with DS begging for things or assuming we'll buy them for him. It doesn't mean that I don't occasionally treat him to something and we of course enjoy the giving of the holiday season and his birthday but for the most part, DS willingly takes up the responsibility of purchasing for himself.

As to contributing to the household, we tend to have a cooperative, helping atmosphere. Everyone pitches in, does the best that they can. I know many parents who feel they should teach their kids to work for money (you don't get something for nothing) because that is what they will have to do in the "real world." I can see the logic to that. However for us, I feel that DS has his whole adult life to work and make money to live, he'll get to that soon enough. For now, I just want him to be able to have something of his own in this regard and learn how to manage that money he'll make some day. And then there is the fact that likely, no one is going to pay him to clean his own home. Wouldn't want to give him the wrong idea there.

I think there are a lot of ways that people tend to approach this that can work well. My .02 for whatever that's worth.

Best of luck in whatever you decide.

Em

[Drummer's Wife]

I really like what Embee said because I feel weird attaching chores or other things I want the kids to help out with thier allowance. As of now, I use it as a way of encouraging them to keep thier rooms clean (which, at the moment, only my 5 and 1 yr olds are picked up) but I try not to hold it over their head and anything else I ask them to help out with is not play into whether or not they get any money.

We have just been doing a dollar per age so Denae gets $7, Nathan $5 and Jayden $3 per week. But honestly, it's not even really consistent because someone usually forgets. I imagine as they get older and care more about money they will remind us

They can use their money for whatever they want, usually it's candy or a couple things from the Dollar Tree. My oldest is very generous and always wants to buy something for each of her brothers. She also has been known to save it up for weeks at a time for something big. And, I may add that one day she took $20 out of her savings to pay for over a weeks worth of lunches at school for her and her brother without being asked or anything, I told her we would pay her back and she said it's okay, mom I wanted to use my own money.