Age and allowance

[swell_mel]

Just wondering what your opinions were on when to start an allowance. My oldest is 4 and I'm thinking an allowance is still quite a ways off (years most likely ). I'm just curious.

[milehighmonkeys]

My DD is almost 4, too and allowance isn't on the radar, yet.

[LynnS6]

We started one when ds was 5 (I don't remember why, but I think he was going through an acquisitive stage and wanted to buy a lot of stuff, so we figured this would be a good way to teach him the value of what he wanted to buy). We did it for about 6-8 months and since then we've been highly irregular in giving it out. Ds (7) doesn't really want to spend it, he doesn't have a lot of things any more that he wants to buy, so there's not a real need. We'll probably start in earnest again in the Fall.

Our dd is just 4 and is definitely the one who 'reminds' me about the allowance. But she just likes to play with the coins. She doesn't care (or really understand) what it's worth. She's be much happier with 20 pennies than with one dollar bill!

[Kelly Jene]

I think it depends more on maturity and knowledge of the money system. Do they understand how money is used, counting it, being responsible with it, stuff like that.

My kids let me know they were ready by asking if they could earn money to buy something.

[Ks Mama]

There's another thread on this running, you should check it out.

Anyhow, here was generally my response in that one:

Why do you want to start giving her an allowance? Has she been asking for things? Asking for money? I'm just wondering if giving money on a regular basis, "just because", to a child is the right thing to do? Maybe talking about the things she wants & why she wants them would be a better way to go? Talking to her about what money is, where it comes from, what its used for, how its earned, spent, saved, given, etc. And then asking her if she can think of ways to earn money - come up with ideas - lemonade stand, raking leaves for neighbors, washing dogs, watering neighbors plants while on vacation, etc. would be better than giving an allowance. If a child is of the age of wanting money (and understanding why), they are of the age to be entrepreneurial.


I don't think tying daily household chores to money is a good thing (I know many people do this). Doing chores around the house is part of living in the house & being part of the family. No one pays me to clean up my own messes. Same for my kids. I clean up because I like a clean environment - because its the best, most healthy way to live - mentally & physically. I think giving children money to clean up could lead to expecting money before cleaning up in the future.



My oldest is nearly 4, so an allowance hasn't come up yet. But I don't think I like the idea of just giving money.

[KYCat]

When ds1 was in 1st grade he started reading a lot and talking more to friends and was interested in the idea of allowance. Ds1 is not a stuff kid but was interested in the concept. I have read and agree with the idea that allowances shouldn't be tied to chores -- we have to vacuum even if we don't need $1 today. But both sides of our family have some money education issues so we thought that teaching about money was important. Officially ds1 gets $3 a week which seems crazy excessive to me, BUT 1/3 goes to church, 1/3 goes to savings and 1/3 is his to do with as he sees fit. ds2 got 3 quarters because he is much more of a stuff kid and he wanted in on this hand out system. Hopefullly it is instilling that when we get stuff, we help others, we save what we can, and then we spend some. fingers crossed

[veganf]

We start $2.50/week at age 5.

[mama in the forest]

My kids don't get an allowance. If they need something I provide it. If they want something more than I can afford we talk about it and try to find unique ways we could acquire it. If not, we figure out a plan to work on it. When they get old enough to earn their own money from a paid position they do that if they choose to. It's worked extremely well for us.

[annethcz]

My oldest started getting an allowance at age 5. My youngest (now 4) started getting allowance at age 3; she saw her older siblings getting allowance and wanted one too

[ZenMamaJen]

We are going to start an allowance for dd on her 5th birthday, and we're going to do half her age, too. So, $2.50! I'm planning on teach her about money this summer (her birthday is in August), so she'll know what a quarter is, etc.

We aren't tying her allowance to chores either; it's just to teach her how to handle her money, and that if she wants to buy something, then she needs to save for it. I wish I'd learned that when I was younger!

[Tuesday]

Originally Posted by swell_mel

Just wondering what your opinions were on when to start an allowance. My oldest is 4 and I'm thinking an allowance is still quite a ways off (years most likely ). I'm just curious.

Our eldest DS has just turned 5. Just based on his individual development, I don't feel he is mature enough to grasp monetary instruction. We do talk about money and its value in terms of buying items. But there is no plans for an allowance in this household.

Actually, DH and I are so strapped for cash, I can't fathom us really being able to "afford" much more than a quarter a week!

DS is aware that the coins he finds outside and around the house can be used to purchase household items and he does give this found money to us when we are purchasing something.

But no allowance plans here.

[Ks Mama]

Originally Posted by mama in the forest

My kids don't get an allowance. If they need something I provide it. If they want something more than I can afford we talk about it and try to find unique ways we could acquire it. If not, we figure out a plan to work on it. When they get old enough to earn their own money from a paid position they do that if they choose to. It's worked extremely well for us.

:

[robin3]

We started to give our ds and allowance at age 5 (he is now 8) because he was interested in money and grasped very quickly how it works. We don't tie it to chores, those are just part of being in a family. We feel that by giving him an allowance and giving him guidance on how money works he is learning a life skill. From what we give him every week he is required to give some to chariy, some to savings and the rest he can spend. We don't tell him how much he must put into each. Lately he has been saving his spending money for specific things that he wants (with parent approval, we don't let him buy toy guns, for example!) So, he is learning how long it takes to save up for certain things, including tax. If there are extra chores to do we will pay him for them. For example, last year our orange tree over produced and we couldn't keep up so we paid him a penny a piece to pick up the rotten oranges off the ground. He had fun (yuck!) and earned a little extra money cuz I wasn't interested in doing it!! I get a lot of ideas about money and kids from Barbara Coloroso's book "Kids are Worth It" HTH.

[4evermom]

We started at 6.