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Originally Posted by 3momkmb  Nope. The kids help out around the house because that's what you do when you are part of a family.
They get money from birthday's and holidays to use for money management and they can get extra money by doing things *above and beyond*. DD (14) does get a certain amount of money monthly that is for her *extras* (lip gloss, funky socks, candy bars etc), but it is more of a homeschool project then an allowance.
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Basically, we are along the same sort of thinking here. We have four children, oldest is almost 13 (boy). The way we look at it is, Dad makes X amount per month, but most of it goes to supporting the family, and very little of it is left for pleasure spending... and, he doesn't get paid to do what is expected of him by the family, such as car maintainance, house fix-its, paperwork, etc. ... so... the children learn that they must also help out and do their share without expecting a reward (they help because they are part of the family and we ALL work together). When they want money to spend, then we give them extra work in order to earn the money, such as pulling weeds or washing the walls. Also, we have explained that any money that they earn belongs to the parents and isn't spent without discussing it with mom and dad first and getting approval. They earn the privilege of spending when they can prove that they can spend wisely (not by buying 10 bags of candy and 7 whoopee cushions). Now, there is one more thing that we do... money that the children earn outside of the home gets put toward supporting the family (groceries, bills, etc). This does not mean gift money... only earned money. The reason for this is so that we can get our heads above water well enough to then help them when they are older and need it... for example, we are building a house with and additional apartment... the children can live in the apartment section (free of course) so that they can save their money and buy a house outright, instead of paying the bank mortgage interest for 30 years. There are many families here that do that and it's amazing how well the grown children do at an earlier age because of the mutual helping out.
The allowance isn't tied to chores here either.
) would figure out that busking at a market every few months was going to be far easier and more lucrative than putting away dishes, washing bathroom floors and folding laundry day after day and week after week. If I turned chores into an economy, my kids would find better ways to earn money -- and I would have no recourse.
