Kids, Allowances, and Chores- What Do you do?

[Soror]

We are considering starting an allowance for the kids 6 and 3.5 but undecided how to do it. I am curious about how others approach the issue. They have certain responsibilities that are expected but I don't know that I want the allowance tied to that as I don't want them to think that they have the option of just not doing what is expected. However, with it not tied to that I don't want them to end up getting an allowance if they are aren't performing responsibilities.

 

Please, tell me what you do!

[NanceXToo]

My opinion is that kids should help around the house with typical stuff because they're part of the household and should help out with chores.

 

Kids should also get a small portion of the family income (in the form of allowance) because they're part of the family, and because that's how you teach them about money management. The allowance is not tied into chores.

 

But if they want to earn EXTRA money, they can do extra chores that are above and beyond what you would normally expect from them for helping out around the house anyway.

[Mynyel]

I give mine an allowance and while not directly tied to chores there are consequences to the actions of not doing them. That, in part, can be a loss of allowance.

I also have taken away allowance for not doing what they are told. For instance I have a standing rule, if I have to tell you more than twice (I give a freebie) to do something I take a quarter every time I have to remind you after two times. That nips that in the bud pretty quickly.

 

On a side note, I love the allowance idea. They don't ask for nearly as much and don't buy as much since they have it! They know they have to spend their own money if they want something so they have quit wanting anything! :D

[patchfire]

My opinion is that kids should help around the house with typical stuff because they're part of the household and should help out with chores.

 

Kids should also get a small portion of the family income (in the form of allowance) because they're part of the family, and because that's how you teach them about money management. The allowance is not tied into chores.

 

But if they want to earn EXTRA money, they can do extra chores that are above and beyond what you would normally expect from them for helping out around the house anyway.

 

:iagree: How lucky I am - you wrote my answer for me. :lol:

 

I will also add that my kids are told how to divide their allowance, at this point - 1/4 each to "donation," "long-term savings," "short-term savings," and "spending." What they choose to save for (short-term) and spend is their decision, within reason. Similarly with regards to how to spend their "donation" money (DD just bought Toys for Tots toys with the last few months' of her). Long-term savings must go into a savings account or a savings bond.

[Tarreymere]

Chores are expected as a member of the family. Kids here don't get an allowance (we think income should be earned and no one is 'entitled' to be given money) but they do have the opportunity to earn money through taking on extra responsibilities. They also get some money from gifts or helping out in our extended family. Later as they are older most of the kids have either started little businesses or found some creative ways to earn money.

[holdoll]

First, let me say that we do this with our older daughters. Yours are really young.

 

We instituted allowance and it is directly tied to chores. We teach them that if you work, you get paid. If dh does not do all of his assigned duties, he will probably get a warning, but would be fired if he continued to neglect it. So they will also get a warning if they have not done all of their chores, but then lose the whole allowance if they are reminded again. It's only happened to 12 yo dd once. Dd's have gotten really good at managing their money and saving some on the side. They have very few chores during the week. Make beds, and then alternate washing dishes/take out trash. On Sundays, the three of us divvy up the chores. It's saved us money as they don't ask for half as much as they used to and know they are expected to pay for extras out of their allowance.

 

If company's coming, all bets are off, and we all do what's needed to be done, no matter what day of the week it is.

[IsabelC]

Everyone has a different take on this topic! Here's ours, as far as we've worked it out:

 

1. Basic chores and allowances are not tied to each other. Firstly because we want the kids to learn that everyone should contribute to the running of the house as far as they are able, without having to be paid to do this. We don't ask the kids to do a lot of work around the place, but when we do expect them to do stuff, they don't get paid for it. Secondly, we believe that the educational experience of getting money would be compromised if they weren't able to predict in advance how how they were getting.

 

2. We consider pocket money to be an educational resource. It's a price we pay to give them some practical lessons on dealing with money. As such, we don't dock their allowance for any misdemeanors any more than we'd cancel their reading lesson if they misbehaved. For the same reason, we don't dictate how they spend their money. We will suggest, advise, even strongly advise, but we don't forbid any purchases they want to make. Likewise we don't make them use any for gifts, charity, savings, or whatever.

 

3. The amount depends on competence, not age or anything else. They start getting paid when they can demonstrate the ability to add and subtract well enough to do a simple problem (eg "Ann bought a for $x and b for $y. How much change should she receive from a $10 note?"). When their money/math skills are sufficient to do a more complicated problem such as devising a budget, their allowance is doubled. When they can pass a test along the lines of Noel Whittaker's one, we will double their pocket money again (or possibly to a first phase and subsequent "boost"). After this, it will be subject to negotiation, ie they will have to present a convincing case if they want any more money from us.

 

4. Like Nance, I might give them extra money if they ask for extra jobs over and above anything we'd normally ask them to do.

Edited December 13, 2010 by Hotdrink

[Heather in OK]

:lurk5:

 

If you pay for extra jobs done, do you have a list of those jobs and what they are worth?

 

How do you keep track of the extra jobs they have done?

 

 

I want to institute this system like this with our kids. I've been procrastinating because I'm not sure how organize it and keep track of what everyone has done and how much they earned.

[bluemongoose]

We also do the daily chores separate from the allowance and then allow them to do extra jobs to earn spending money.

 

We are using a modified (hand made) version of the card system accountable kids. They have daily chores they do because they are members of the household. They earn tickets for completing these jobs in a timely manner and correctly. The tickets they use for privileges in the house...watching movies, playing wii, extra game time with mom and dad etc. When they have completed their daily chores, they have the option of taking on a job (we have job cards that they choose from) to earn money.

 

My kids are 6 and 4yo. Their chores are: getting ready in the morning, taking their vitamins, making their beds, putting dirty clothes down the chute, doing their schoolwork, getting ready for bed, and picking up their toys. They also have a helping hands chore card that prompts them to ask if there is something they can do to help.

 

The jobs are things like: helping with dishes, helping with cooking, helping set the table or clear it off, helping change their sheets, helping sort clothes or put them in the washer or dryer etc.

 

As they get older some of the jobs cards get moved and become daily chore cards. Then newer jobs get added to the job cards that they are now old enough to handle. These could be things like washing the car, mowing the lawn etc.

[Tarreymere]

:lurk5:

 

If you pay for extra jobs done, do you have a list of those jobs and what they are worth?

 

How do you keep track of the extra jobs they have done?

 

 

I want to institute this system like this with our kids. I've been procrastinating because I'm not sure how organize it and keep track of what everyone has done and how much they earned.

 

In our family we don't have a list. Usually the kid will approach us and say he or she wants to do something to make some money. We look around and see if we have a task that needs to get done and if so we tell the child what we will pay for it, like cleaning out the shed or something similiar. If the child decides to take on the job, great. We pay cash on completion. We have a big family so it is possible for the kids at home to call an adult sibling and ask for work too.

 

We don't buy a lot of things for the kids or for ourselves, so the kids pretty much use their money if they want anything other than basic school supplies or thrift store jeans and sneakers. The most popular thing to buy, it seems, is delivery pizza. Most of the adult kids have gone through phases with money, sometimes spending too much on the wrong things and coming up short, then getting back on track. None of them has any real problem with debt.

[6packofun]

Even if we did do an allowance, we would not begin at age 3. Definitely too early, IMO. I might start at age 8 or 9 after regular service to the family through chores has been established a bit, but that's just me.

 

Anyhow, we only give money for chores and projects over and above the daily cleaning that needs to be done. That's just an occasional thing. Money management lessons don't require an allowance (for us), so our kids are in on the family budget to some degree and they have opportunities to learn to spend wisely, save, etc. Our family has been financially strapped for a most of the past 17 years so much of this is out of necessity and we make it work! LOL I think many different ways of doing the allowance thing can work--there's not one right answer. :)

[FaithManor]

I don't think I would start an allowance before age five. We never did anything like that with the kids until we kind of hit the wall with the "three musketeers" who seem to be doing to much arguing and annoying each other during chore time.

 

So, in order to encourage them to buck up and be cheerful plus stop annoying each other, we started giving each boy a roll of quarters at the beginning of the month. Anytime they don't do their chores cheerfully and peacefully, they owe us money. We set the chore amounts reasonably, fifty cents for something that's quickly and easily done, $1.00 for something longer or more complicated. If they annoy each other, they owe us money because they just made our job more difficult by having to stop what we are doing and intervene. If one of them fails to complete a job, that person must pay one of his brothers or mom or dad to complete the job. It's helping...they haven't gone a whole month without losing any money but it has cut way down on the bickering. The middle boy is just a bit flightly, though an academic wiz, and so he loses the most because he has a terrible tendency to "blank brain" at the end of a task and not complete it. But, having to hand over that money hurts, and so he is also slowly improving.

 

When we have a very long, back breaking job, we sometimes pay some extra...such as the time that the 13 year old stacked two face cord of wood alone while his brothers were cleaning duck runs - not a task nearly as arduous as the wood.

 

Faith

[Jayne J]

We started allowances when the child turned 5. Most chores are done without compensation, because they live here too. We do assign specific chores, not onerous or difficult, and not personal (ie clean rooms or folded laundry etc.) and pay for these chores. The money is basically given to them, but they do have token work to do to earn it, and it can be docked. For instance, ds was careless and broke a neighbor childs toy, so we docked his alllowance until the replacement cost was covered. But we don't dock it for behavior issues.

 

Our token chores generally involve garbage--taking out and bringing in the cans, emptying wastepaper baskets etc. Mainly because I don't want to do these...:D

[Heather in OK]

Usually the kid will approach us and say he or she wants to do something to make some money. We look around and see if we have a task that needs to get done and if so we tell the child what we will pay for it,

 

Ok..so do you have a set "wage" for those extra jobs?

 

I can see myself saying, "Sure, E. go sweep the garage and you can earn $1." Then two weeks later A. comes and wants to do the same thing and I say, "....and you can earn $2." Then E., who only earned $1 says, "But I didn't get $2 for sweeping the garage. I only got $1!!"

 

Maybe start a list with extra jobs and what can be earned. Then as they think of additional jobs we can just add to it. ??

[Lady Florida.]

My opinion is that kids should help around the house with typical stuff because they're part of the household and should help out with chores.

 

Kids should also get a small portion of the family income (in the form of allowance) because they're part of the family, and because that's how you teach them about money management. The allowance is not tied into chores.

 

But if they want to earn EXTRA money, they can do extra chores that are above and beyond what you would normally expect from them for helping out around the house anyway.

 

This is us. We also say that you cannot do just the money chores and let your regular chores slide.

[Lady Florida.]

:lurk5:

 

If you pay for extra jobs done, do you have a list of those jobs and what they are worth?

 

How do you keep track of the extra jobs they have done?

 

 

I want to institute this system like this with our kids. I've been procrastinating because I'm not sure how organize it and keep track of what everyone has done and how much they earned.

 

We worked with ds to come up with a list of extra chores, and what they should be worth. I only have one child, so keeping up is pretty easy. ;)

 

I should add that there's a limit to what he can earn each week. The choice of extra chores is extensive and would break mom and dad's bank if he did them all. We (and he) wanted there to be choices, so we made the list long. The limit he can earn is $15 a week. On top of hie weekly $5 allowance, we feel that's more than enough for a 13 year old. FWIW, he's never hit the maximum.

 

And one last thing -- if we're expecting company or one of us parents is sick, all bets are off. He's expected to pitch in as a family member and not get paid for taking on extra responsibility in times of family stress.