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Giving allowance and chores


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I just printed out a chore chart for my 8 year old daughter. These are the basic things for herself that she has to do, plus some tasks to help out in the house such as unload dishwasher, put groceries away, help her sister with shoes and jacket when we are going out, sweep the dining area after dinner.

 

She likes to start saving money for things to buy (toys, whatever) but I don't know how to introduce the idea of allowance. I don't feel that I have to pay for doing her chores because she's part of the household. I also do not have anything "extra" that she can do on top of her daily chores. But I would like to teach her about money and offer her some kind of incentive? Your helpful advice is appreciated. Thank you.

Edited by miracleone
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My children have regular chores that they do every day as part of the family.

They have extra jobs around the house that are optional that they get paid with computer time. these include things like vacuuming their room, washing windows, mowing lawns, cleaning out the car, and washing ceilings. These jobs use to have a monetary value, but the kids requested that we change the currency to computer time.

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I listened to a lecture at a homeschool conference that recommended keeping allowance and chores separate. The kids do the chores because they are a part of the family and they get an allowance to learn financial responsibility. If they don't do their chores, there is some consequence, but it isn't linked to the allowance.

 

They also recommended requiring them to divide their allowance among difference envelopes. I think it was 70% spending, 20% saving, 10% charity. They gave recommended amounts for the allowance, but those amounts turned out to be too much for my kids ($5/week). I felt like they had too much spending money. My daughter accumulated $200 of spending money without any effort at all. I had to stop the allowance for financial reasons, but once I catch up on the back allowance I owe them (crazy, huh), I think I'll do something like $10/month. That should meet their needs.

 

I think part of the reason that was too much money for them is because I was no longer supposed to buy things for them and everything was supposed to come out of the allowance. I really didn't like that. I don't buy them tons of stuff, but if we go to the roller rink, I guess I want to treat them and buy them a snack. I enjoy being able to do that sometimes.

 

The other reason it was too much is because my son will spend every dime he has on legos no matter how much money he has and my daughter doesn't have much she really wants to buy at all.

 

Anyway, that's more info. than you asked for, but I thought maybe some of that might be helpful to you.

 

Lisa

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I like the ideal of keeping them separate but in our reality, we needed something to be able to take away from the kids if they didn't do their chores. So, they didn't get paid to do their chores but they did get fines if they didn't do their chores. Dh instigated that because he was so frustrated all teh time when they didn't do their chores - he wanted to hit them where it hurt- money!

I cant say the motivation was huge though- it didn't make much of a difference- but it made dh feel better :)

I have found the best way to get chores done is to make it a routine, and to ask nicely and follow through every single day. The routine is good- but recently here when the kids went to school the routine changes and chores went out the window again. So I started asking nicely and they appreciated that- but it means I have to remember.

In other words- getting kids to do chores can be harder work than doing them yourself, but patience and persistence helps.

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I listened to a lecture at a homeschool conference that recommended keeping allowance and chores separate. The kids do the chores because they are a part of the family and they get an allowance to learn financial responsibility. If they don't do their chores, there is some consequence, but it isn't linked to the allowance.

 

They also recommended requiring them to divide their allowance among difference envelopes. I think it was 70% spending, 20% saving, 10% charity. They gave recommended amounts for the allowance, but those amounts turned out to be too much for my kids ($5/week). I felt like they had too much spending money. My daughter accumulated $200 of spending money without any effort at all. I had to stop the allowance for financial reasons, but once I catch up on the back allowance I owe them (crazy, huh), I think I'll do something like $10/month. That should meet their needs.

 

I think part of the reason that was too much money for them is because I was no longer supposed to buy things for them and everything was supposed to come out of the allowance. I really didn't like that. I don't buy them tons of stuff, but if we go to the roller rink, I guess I want to treat them and buy them a snack. I enjoy being able to do that sometimes.

 

The other reason it was too much is because my son will spend every dime he has on legos no matter how much money he has and my daughter doesn't have much she really wants to buy at all.

 

Anyway, that's more info. than you asked for, but I thought maybe some of that might be helpful to you.

 

Lisa

 

It is actually very helpful.

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