What "Allowance" Do You Give Your Kids?

[jyl]

For those of you w/ young kids, I’m curious what you do for their “allowance”, if anything.

My 13 y/o daughter gets $30 every two weeks. She babysits once a month or so, we haven’t really encouraged it as I’d rather she spend time on schoolwork. My 10 y/o son gets $20 every two weeks.

My goal is a sum that lets them buy some fun things that they like (used CDs at the record store, clothes at the vintage store, lego kits), but still requires them to save and budget and make choices. I don’t pay them for doing chores, they just have to do them.

[stomachmonkey]

None really.

They earn thru good grades, displaying situationally correct behaviour, adherence to the rules. All of which are at the whim and open to continuous sometimes spontaneous modification by mommy and daddy, meaning there are certain things that at their age should no longer need to be explained to them.

[Jagshund]

Performance based pay may bring about a cleaner home. I don't have kids, though, so what the heck do I know? I still eat food off the floor.

[gprsh924]

I never got an allowance. I was expected to do stuff around the house, behave, get good grades, etc. In turn my parents continued to pay for clothes and then eventually car insurance, gas, tuition and so on. I started mowing lawns when I was 10, around the same age when you start doing things on your own with friends like riding your bikes to McDonalds or going to play golf, or going to the movies so the money I made from mowing lawns was my spending money for that. Unless it was in the form of a christmas/birthday gift, I never got money for entertainment purposes.

[Dueller]

No "real allowance"...carton of cigarettes or a 12 pack here and there...but once they turned 13 they began working babysitting, lawns, etc in the neighborhood for their spending money.

[legion]

No kids...

As a kid, I never really got an allowance. (I was paid 1˘ per chore at 12, which netted me around $1 a week. Then at 13, I was given $5 a week, but that only lasted for a couple of weeks.) I got a job promptly at 15 so that I could have some spending money.

Just my opinion, but kids that are told "school is your job" never really learn how to plan their time or balance competing priorities as kids, and are often overwhelmed by these things in college. I got crappy grades in early high school and I would have with or without a job. I didn't put in any effort to get good grades until I got that first car insurance bill.

[porsche4life]

I got an allowance off and on.... In the summers I would work for dad after I was about 12 and I got payed for that.... Cleaning the shop and handing tools when I was younger... Became more physical labor and equipment operator as I got bigger... My mom always added a little to my check that I never had access to... That account is being used to pay for books and stuff now that I am in college.... Now I have gotten a job elsewhere...

[Burnin' oil]

I allowances my chiddrens to sleep indoors and eat several meals a week with us.

[myamoto1]

My kids are only 2 & 4, but each earned about $7 yesterday selling cookies at our garage sale. My goal is to have my kids understand the importance of being self sufficient and the value of money. That's not to say that some day them may earn the privilege of an allowance, but for now they earn privileges through good behavior and doing their chores.

[peppy]

Originally Posted by Burnin' oil

I allowances my chiddrens to sleep indoors and eat several meals a week with us.

Dad is that you?




My son is 3 and no. He earns money through hearing studies about $500 a year.

[Buckterrier]

No kids here but when I was a yute I was given 25 cents a week and friggin' earned it. (Yikes I just dated myself )

[alf]

No allowence. They get

-Birthday, christmas and birthday money.
-Reward for good grades/behavior money.
-Selling candy/old toys and random stuff to other kids in the hood.

We stopped buying them toys and entertainment stuff several years ago, they need to use their own money for that. Really cut down on the Target crap we brought home.

[gr8fl4porsche]

My kids are self sufficient. They both learned how to steal coins and cash from my pockets at a very young age.

[Dueller]

Speaking of rewards for grades on report cards...I got $5 for every "A", had to pay my dad $5 for a "B" and $10 for a "C." I did not have to ask what happened if I got a "D" or "F."

I remember making my first "B" in the 10th grade...I thought my life was over

Seriously...that was the regime I grew up under.

[Buckterrier]

Originally Posted by Dueller

Speaking of rewards for grades on report cards...I got $5 for every "A", had to pay my dad $5 for a "B" and $10 for a "C." I did not have to ask what happened if I got a "D" or "F."

I remember making my first "B" in the 10th grade...I thought my life was over

Seriously...that was the regime I grew up under.

That's better than just being rewarded for good grades IMHO. Good grades were expected no reward for them.
When I was a boy an allowance was earned, with work. I know, it's a different world today. But I have a good work ethic from my youth.

[jyl]

Wow, I'm getting taken to the cleaners by my own spawn.

Seriously, no parent of 10-14 y/o kids gives their kids a regular allowance?

[LWJ]

John,

I have a 10 and an 8 and a 4.5 year old. We have tried a couple of different experiments. None really worked so far. I see a nice family meeting tonight. I am happy to pay them but they need to reciprocate with clean rooms / doing chores / etc. So far, their performance has been inferior to say the least. Certainly it is my failure. I will get right on it.
Larry

[Embraer]

I was expected to do chores. Mow the yard, wash dishes, take out the trash, help my 'rents for whatever they needed.

I was paid with a roof over my head and meals.

[MattKellett]

John - I'm sure plenty of kids get a regular allowance, my step son did as did most of his friends.

When living in the UK, we called it pocket money, which we received every week, or rather it was added to a total in a pocket book my mother kept. So when I really wanted a lego kit for example, it would come out if the pocket book.

I think you are just hearing some of this right now lol .........

YouTube - Monty Python - Four Yorkshiremen

Cheers Matt

[on2wheels52]

Originally Posted by Buckterrier

No kids here but when I was a yute I was given 25 cents a week and friggin' earned it. (Yikes I just dated myself )

I must be really old, dime/wk for me.
As for offspring, $2k/month after scholarships.
Private college (even in AR) eats you up. I could let him use the trust fund we have set up for his education but am still hoping to make it something of a graduation present (is pharmacy school cheaper than college?).

Jim