Allowance 10 and 8
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Anonymous
That's a lot! What kinds of things does your 6 and 7 y.o. spend the money on? My just-turned-7 yo gets $2 a week -- one to spend and one for charity. She typically saves the spending money and buys one toy/game every 6 months or so. For charity, we put it in a box and every few mo ths, we match the amount and send it to a cause of her choosing(she picks the issue and then we pick the organization). |
Anonymous
Like the pp, we have the kids set aside money for charity. When they reach a certain point where it's large enough ($20?), they can choose a cause they're interested in. (I found by later elementary age, they're well aware of different sorts of charities, like helping animals or the environment.) Like pp, we research the specific charity and help them make the donation. They kids take responsibility very seriously--they realize it's not that much money, and there are many potential causes, and they're proud to be able to help one in a small way. We remind them that they don't have to give to the same cause all the time, and that they will have other chances to give in the future. |
Anonymous
Wow! Your kids are the 1%! 
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Anonymous
All of those things are required if you choose to be a parent. They are not something you "ALLOW". Failure to provide those things will result in your children being taken away from you. |
Anonymous
I also don't give an allowance but I'm not as, um, tough as these folks. I do think of allowances for kids as simply paying them to exist and I'm not into that. But I also don't think they have to wait until they have jobs outside the home as teens before they get and learn about money. My daughter has gotten payment for doing specific chores for some years now. She does NOT get paid for chores that are just part of keeping the household going day to day; I don't believe in that either, since everyone has to pull his or her weight in any household. But I do pay her from $1.00 to $10.00 or so, maybe once a month, for specific, larger chores that aren't everyday ones but which I might need done on a case-by-case basis. Examples are clearing out the pantry, going through all items, tossing stuff out, and restocking it neatly; or doing the same for the linen closet; etc. (It's worth noting that she's going on 13 and can handle these large things on her own, and works well at them. Not sure how this system would work for a younger kid.) I don't invent chores just to give her money but I do think about whether some tasks can be left to her so that she gets paid and I can be doing other things. She also is careful with the money she get as gifts from relatives and knows just how much she has and what she plans to do with it. I think kids do need to learn financial literacy starting early, but I don't think it's essential that they be handed a cash allowance weekly just to learn that. My kid is responsible with her money and very aware of what she's got and what she needs to buy certain things, yet she's never had any allowance but has a good amount she's saved from gifts and the paid "special" chores. Many kids get monetary gifts at holidays, birthdays, other occasions -- that's a good starting place for teaching them to hang onto that cash. |
Anonymous
| we do $1 per year of age per week. |
Anonymous
Yeah, good luck with that. Turns out it is much easier to give them the allowance so they have some discretion for the small stuff than it is to be nickel and dimed about reasonable things. It isn't so easy to earn money when you are twelve, but you are old enough for a slurpy on your own. |
Anonymous
| For those parents who give allowance, can you be specific on what items you leave your child/children to buy using their own allowance, and what times you provide regardless? E.g. what kind of toy/book/clothes they have to spend their own money to get? |