Allowances Xposted

My girls will be 7 years old next month. I think I am about ready for
dishing out allowances. I know they are. Any advice much appreciated.

How much do you give (if any)? Is it contingent on anything (chores,
behavior)? If so, do you keep charts or anything? What can they do with
their money? Do you request that they save/give any of it? Spend it freely?
Thanks,
--
Erin
Morgan and Megan 2/15/97
Evan 5/14/00

Hi Erin,

I have three girls, ages 11, 8 and 7. We were giving an allowance for chores
for about two years, it was a major hassle getting my then 5-year-old to do
them everyday. So I stopped for a while. We have started chores again, but I
am not giving allowance associated with chores because we have decided that
there are certain things that must be done in a household to make it run and
we didn't feel that they should be paid for it.

What we do now is, I assign rooms to each child and they have to take care
of that room for one month and then they switch. They are not paid for it. I
have a list of extra chores around the house that they can earn extra money
for. Some of those include washing windows, shoveling the walk when it
snows, sweeping and mopping our steps, cleaning cars, etc..
Other than the money that they can earn, I don't give them any extra money.
For now anyway. I may change that once the 11-year-old needs or wants more
things.

Lots of people monitor the money when they give out an allowance. I don't
want to do that. I would like them to feel that once they have earned their
money, they should be able to spend it however they like. I would suggest
perhaps saving half and spending half, but it seemed that they were getting
such a little amount that saving half would leave them not a whole lot to
spend. Kids do need to learn how to save money and spend it. I am just not
sure how much I would interfere with it.
--
Sue (mom to three girls)
I'm Just a Raggedy Ann in a Barbie Doll World...

Kender wrote in message
news:x%wOb.93301$xy6.166081@attbi_s02...
My girls will be 7 years old next month. I think I am about ready for
dishing out allowances. I know they are. Any advice much appreciated.

How much do you give (if any)? Is it contingent on anything (chores,
behavior)? If so, do you keep charts or anything? What can they do with
their money? Do you request that they save/give any of it? Spend it
freely?
Thanks,
--
Erin
Morgan and Megan 2/15/97
Evan 5/14/00

Hi Erin,

I have three girls, ages 11, 8 and 7. We were giving an allowance for chores
for about two years, it was a major hassle getting my then 5-year-old to do
them everyday. So I stopped for a while. We have started chores again, but I
am not giving allowance associated with chores because we have decided that
there are certain things that must be done in a household to make it run and
we didn't feel that they should be paid for it.

What we do now is, I assign rooms to each child and they have to take care
of that room for one month and then they switch. They are not paid for it. I
have a list of extra chores around the house that they can earn extra money
for. Some of those include washing windows, shoveling the walk when it
snows, sweeping and mopping our steps, cleaning cars, etc..
Other than the money that they can earn, I don't give them any extra money.
For now anyway. I may change that once the 11-year-old needs or wants more
things.

Lots of people monitor the money when they give out an allowance. I don't
want to do that. I would like them to feel that once they have earned their
money, they should be able to spend it however they like. I would suggest
perhaps saving half and spending half, but it seemed that they were getting
such a little amount that saving half would leave them not a whole lot to
spend. Kids do need to learn how to save money and spend it. I am just not
sure how much I would interfere with it.
--
Sue (mom to three girls)
I'm Just a Raggedy Ann in a Barbie Doll World...

Kender wrote in message
news:x%wOb.93301$xy6.166081@attbi_s02...
My girls will be 7 years old next month. I think I am about ready for
dishing out allowances. I know they are. Any advice much appreciated.

How much do you give (if any)? Is it contingent on anything (chores,
behavior)? If so, do you keep charts or anything? What can they do with
their money? Do you request that they save/give any of it? Spend it
freely?
Thanks,
--
Erin
Morgan and Megan 2/15/97
Evan 5/14/00

Oooh, this is another thread I'm looking forward to seeing input!

Not there, yet as mine are under three DH and I have already agreed on a
plan, though. We will give them "expected" chores like cleaning their rooms,
making bed, etc. Then, we'll have a chart of "extra" chores that they can
choose from and they will come w/monetary benefits associated to the level of
work. We'll try to offer them the opportunity to each earn $1 per year of
life. We plan on taking a % of that from them (just like taxes, tithing, and
showing them how to save for a rainy day).

Our goals are to teach them a)some things are to be done regardless of benefit
b)even if you earn money, money comes with a responsibility to help others and
yourself in the future by saving c)you can choose to do nothing and go nowhere
or do extra and succeed

Ah, a perfect plan...let's see how reality will cause us to shift to adjust to
each girl's personality LOL! (I think it'll work great, though, as I'm a
product of the same line of thinking.)
Missy in Indiana http://hometown.aol.com/mhrust/overviewforng.html
Morgan Olivia & Julia Lucille 4/28/01 (YAY!)

Oooh, this is another thread I'm looking forward to seeing input!

Not there, yet as mine are under three DH and I have already agreed on a
plan, though. We will give them "expected" chores like cleaning their rooms,
making bed, etc. Then, we'll have a chart of "extra" chores that they can
choose from and they will come w/monetary benefits associated to the level of
work. We'll try to offer them the opportunity to each earn $1 per year of
life. We plan on taking a % of that from them (just like taxes, tithing, and
showing them how to save for a rainy day).

Our goals are to teach them a)some things are to be done regardless of benefit
b)even if you earn money, money comes with a responsibility to help others and
yourself in the future by saving c)you can choose to do nothing and go nowhere
or do extra and succeed

Ah, a perfect plan...let's see how reality will cause us to shift to adjust to
each girl's personality LOL! (I think it'll work great, though, as I'm a
product of the same line of thinking.)
Missy in Indiana http://hometown.aol.com/mhrust/overviewforng.html
Morgan Olivia & Julia Lucille 4/28/01 (YAY!)

On Sun, 18 Jan 2004 14:46:53 GMT, Kender wrote:
My girls will be 7 years old next month. I think I am about ready for
dishing out allowances. I know they are. Any advice much appreciated.

How much do you give (if any)? Is it contingent on anything (chores,
behavior)? If so, do you keep charts or anything? What can they do with
their money? Do you request that they save/give any of it? Spend it freely?
Thanks,

We started giving our 3 year old a $1.00/week allowance a few
weeks ago. At this point, it's not tied to chores - we're
primarily interested in teaching him about the different
values of coins, and instilling the habit of saving.

Out of the $1.00, he has to take 25 cents and save it
for college. He also need to save 15 cents for charity.
Each of these allocations goes into a separate tupperware
container. The remainder goes into his main piggy bank,
with which he can do as he pleases. He's currently
saving up for a palm pilot. ;-)

At any rate, each week I've given him a different
number of coins of different denominations, so he
gets some practice. When he gets a few dollars saved
up in his enforced savings, we'll take them to the
bank and the charity, respectively, and start over.

When he gets older, I expect we'll have the allowance
at least somewhat tied to chores - though if he does a large
amount of extra work, like painting the house, for example,
I would treat that as an entirely separate transaction.
He can learn about subcontracting. ;-)

On Sun, 18 Jan 2004 14:46:53 GMT, Kender wrote:
My girls will be 7 years old next month. I think I am about ready for
dishing out allowances. I know they are. Any advice much appreciated.

How much do you give (if any)? Is it contingent on anything (chores,
behavior)? If so, do you keep charts or anything? What can they do with
their money? Do you request that they save/give any of it? Spend it freely?
Thanks,

We started giving our 3 year old a $1.00/week allowance a few
weeks ago. At this point, it's not tied to chores - we're
primarily interested in teaching him about the different
values of coins, and instilling the habit of saving.

Out of the $1.00, he has to take 25 cents and save it
for college. He also need to save 15 cents for charity.
Each of these allocations goes into a separate tupperware
container. The remainder goes into his main piggy bank,
with which he can do as he pleases. He's currently
saving up for a palm pilot. ;-)

At any rate, each week I've given him a different
number of coins of different denominations, so he
gets some practice. When he gets a few dollars saved
up in his enforced savings, we'll take them to the
bank and the charity, respectively, and start over.

When he gets older, I expect we'll have the allowance
at least somewhat tied to chores - though if he does a large
amount of extra work, like painting the house, for example,
I would treat that as an entirely separate transaction.
He can learn about subcontracting. ;-)

"Kender" wrote in message
news:x%wOb.93301$xy6.166081@attbi_s02...
My girls will be 7 years old next month. I think I am about ready for
dishing out allowances. I know they are. Any advice much appreciated.

How much do you give (if any)? Is it contingent on anything (chores,
behavior)? If so, do you keep charts or anything? What can they do with
their money? Do you request that they save/give any of it? Spend it
freely?
Thanks,


My daughter is still too young for allowances, but I can tell you what my
own parents did, if that might help.

We got allowances freely. They were not tied to chores. The way it was
explained to us was that we were part of a family, and because of that, we
had rights (e.g. money from the family coffers) and responsibilities (e.g.
chores) that were interdependant, but that the former wasn't reimbursement
for the latter.

We were allowed to use our allowances however we wished. When we all got
paying non-family jobs, half of every paycheck had to be put in a college
savings account, but allowance was considered pocket money.

We each had chores to be completed. As I recall, they consisted of
something like 1) make bed daily, and tidy own room weekly. 2) Walk dog
daily. Each of us rotated weekly through either a) feeding the dog,
setting and clearing the dinner table and emptying the dishwasher as needed.
As we got older (the stuff I just described was early pre-teen stuff - 8
years old, maybe?), we added daily tidying of one downstairs room to be done
before any parent got home, and weekly dusting and vacuuming of said room,
plus one bathroom. That started when we were about, oh, I don't know, maybe
10.

If we wanted to earn extra money, there were indeed paid chores for each
age. I can't remember what they were, but I'm sure they involved yard work,
etc.

Cautionary tale: my stepdaughter's mother paid her for chores. At about
age eight she decided she could live without money, and refused to do any
chores whatsoever. Not maliciously, mind, you, she just calmly quit.
So I would REALLY urge you not to link chores to allowance. It leaves a
well-meaning parent nothing to do when the child realizes that s/he doesn't
really need money. Which they don't.

HTH

Donna

"Kender" wrote in message
news:x%wOb.93301$xy6.166081@attbi_s02...
My girls will be 7 years old next month. I think I am about ready for
dishing out allowances. I know they are. Any advice much appreciated.

How much do you give (if any)? Is it contingent on anything (chores,
behavior)? If so, do you keep charts or anything? What can they do with
their money? Do you request that they save/give any of it? Spend it
freely?
Thanks,


My daughter is still too young for allowances, but I can tell you what my
own parents did, if that might help.

We got allowances freely. They were not tied to chores. The way it was
explained to us was that we were part of a family, and because of that, we
had rights (e.g. money from the family coffers) and responsibilities (e.g.
chores) that were interdependant, but that the former wasn't reimbursement
for the latter.

We were allowed to use our allowances however we wished. When we all got
paying non-family jobs, half of every paycheck had to be put in a college
savings account, but allowance was considered pocket money.

We each had chores to be completed. As I recall, they consisted of
something like 1) make bed daily, and tidy own room weekly. 2) Walk dog
daily. Each of us rotated weekly through either a) feeding the dog,
setting and clearing the dinner table and emptying the dishwasher as needed.
As we got older (the stuff I just described was early pre-teen stuff - 8
years old, maybe?), we added daily tidying of one downstairs room to be done
before any parent got home, and weekly dusting and vacuuming of said room,
plus one bathroom. That started when we were about, oh, I don't know, maybe
10.

If we wanted to earn extra money, there were indeed paid chores for each
age. I can't remember what they were, but I'm sure they involved yard work,
etc.

Cautionary tale: my stepdaughter's mother paid her for chores. At about
age eight she decided she could live without money, and refused to do any
chores whatsoever. Not maliciously, mind, you, she just calmly quit.
So I would REALLY urge you not to link chores to allowance. It leaves a
well-meaning parent nothing to do when the child realizes that s/he doesn't
really need money. Which they don't.

HTH

Donna

Kender wrote:

My girls will be 7 years old next month. I think I am about ready for
dishing out allowances. I know they are. Any advice much appreciated.

How much do you give (if any)? Is it contingent on anything (chores,
behavior)? If so, do you keep charts or anything? What can they do with
their money? Do you request that they save/give any of it? Spend it freely?
Thanks,


I give my 6 year old daughter $1.25 every week for allowance. She gives
25 cents to her Brownie troop as dues. It isn't contingent on anything
(chores) because I want her to learn money management skills. She has
chores to do as a member of our family. We wanted to separate the two
because, well, I didn't want her to associate money with ordinary tasks
or chores.

So far, she hasn't really spent any of it. But she's allowed to spend it
on whatever she wants.

Jeanne