$5 per week for 6 year old?

[Blessedfamily]

... I got tired of reading replies myself!:lol:

Thanks everyone! I like chaik's reply... because she agrees with me!:D:lol:

 

:lol:Too funny. Not many people would admit they like answers that agree with them.

 

Well, I agreed with you a teeny bit. I just didn't want to admit it because everyone else said no! :001_smile: If you're going to do it (I don't know whether you should), I didn't think $5/week was too much. She just wouldn't be getting a raise anytime soon.

 

That's my .02 (Not that you'll ever even read this post.)

[elegantlion]

But your DH gets (or you get) paid for going to work, right? I'm sure he (or you) wouldn't stay there long if he was (or you were) compensated by "the satisfaction of a job well done."

 

My reason for linking money and chores is that I want my kids to learn the connection between work and money. I don't pay them to take care of their own things, and I haven't compensated them for anything school-related, but I do pay them to do things that benefit the family. I don't buy them anything except necessary clothing items unless it's their b-day or Christmas, and even then we only spend $25-50 ea. at the most.

 

I feel that my kids have learned responsibility through working. They know that they have to take care of themselves and their things before they can earn money, and they know that if they want something they need to work for it. They know that if they break or lose something it won't be replaced. They know to think ahead and shop frugally. They have learned to tithe. They aren't allowed to buy anything that they haven't thought about for at least a couple days--if they see something they want at the store, they have to wait a few days and then we go back for it if they still want it.

 

We pay half if they want clothes or certain books. Starting this spring (when garage sales start) DD8 will not have clothes provided for her anymore. She'll start having to buy gifts for b-day parties soon too. When they're older they'll have to pay for their activities. We'll be increasing their wages according to what their needs are, but they still have to work for things.

 

They do plenty for the "satisfaction of a job well done", but they also need to learn to work for money and manage that money. That's the way the world works that I'm preparing them for.

 

:iagree:

[hornblower]

But your DH gets (or you get) paid for going to work, right? I'm sure he (or you) wouldn't stay there long if he was (or you were) compensated by "the satisfaction of a job well done."

 

<snip>

 

They do plenty for the "satisfaction of a job well done", but they also need to learn to work for money and manage that money. That's the way the world works that I'm preparing them for.

 

Hi there,

 

Actually, yes we do work for money. It's a choice to exchange our time & skills for currency.

 

But we also do a lot of things for free - call it volunteering, call it charity, call it following our hearts, and following our creative desires. So yes, there are a lot of times when I work very, very, very hard at jobs for which I don't get any money at all. And I have stayed for a long time in jobs where I did not get any money. Btw, we are atheists so we don't do these things because we're required to by our faith or anything like that...

 

I think of these things (work & remuneration) as very, very separate things.

 

I think my kids are actually very savvy at money management. We've read through books like The Wealthy Barber & The Automatic Millionaire. We've watched documentaries on credit card debt. Dh actually works in the financial sector :D - we talk finance and economics (micro & macro) all the time. I think we'll do a virtual stock market experiment with them (we can't trade for real b/e of dh's job - too much inside info :001_smile:)

 

I just don't want to be my kids' employer. I think they can learn all those lessons in other ways.

 

If we had a family business - which is something I'm considering - that would be different because then I'd put all of us on the payroll for that business.

 

But what I meant was that I don't get paid for doing chores, I don't see why they should too. As a family we budget and allocate resources & I prefer to just *give* them an allowance rather than creating a fake employment situation.

 

But à chacun son goût, eh? :001_smile:

[Lovedtodeath]

:lol:Too funny. Not many people would admit they like answers that agree with them.

 

Well, I agreed with you a teeny bit. I just didn't want to admit it because everyone else said no! :001_smile: If you're going to do it (I don't know whether you should), I didn't think $5/week was too much. She just wouldn't be getting a raise anytime soon.

 

That's my .02 (Not that you'll ever even read this post.)

 

I (shock!) read it!:D

 

I just got tired when there were 20 new posts to check (and some ::ahem disagreements, I had no idea this question would become charged or generate so much response)... 3 I can handle.

[Holly IN]

Well, I think you are in the minority. My dd is 7, and has been invited to the movies, out shopping, skating, to the museum, to the fair, to the beach, to the mountains, out of town to visit relatives with a friend, and all sorts of other places where she needs spending money for the last 2-3 years. This is pretty much the norm for children where I live.

 

 

I guess I am in the minority too. In fact, if a child has been invited to something it is invitee's responsibility to pay not mine. That is the norm around here. At the age of 8,7,6, and so on. Now my ds who is 13 was invited to go shopping with a group of friends...I can understand him having to pay due to his age but not at 7 yrs of age. When we invite a friend of our kids with us somewhere we pay their way. This is the custom here in my area. Now if there was an outing where the invitee is requesting money paid then if we approve we will pay it. That is where a treat money comes in out of my pocket. We discuss money with our kids. They know when daddy goes to work he gets paid. They know when I go to work I get paid. They also understand that when I do my chores I do NOT get paid or allowance. So why should they get money for chores when I do not get paid for mine...

 

 

 

Holly

Edited November 3, 2008 by Holly IN
Needed to clarify

[jamnkats]

My kids each get $2/week allowance.

If I remember.

Or if they remember to remind me.

 

I don't pay them for schoolwork or chores or anything. This is just pocket money. For a while, my ds was using it to buy a soft drink out of a machine - that was his idea of a big treat!

 

They also get extra money from granparents on their birthdays.

 

My 13 yo is a $ hoarder. There are few things she wants to spend her money on.

 

The 9 yo is a spender. He usually goes through his birthday money quickly. For him it works if I forget to give him allowance for a while because then he'll get $10 or $20 (yes, that's how long we forget for...) in a lump and can get something bigger.

 

I am reasonably willing to buy them smaller toys & other stuff throughout the year so they don't seem to really need the money.

 

Your child sound very rich to me. I don't have that much money to just blow on myself each month.... :lol:

 

I agree. My kids get 1 peso for each year of age/week. My 14yo would have to save up for over a year to get what you're giving your daughter in a month. But that is our family. I give my kids an allowance so that they get some experience with managing money before they're thrust into adult life. They learn to save and spend and budget.

 

I do not tie allowance to anything - they always get it (as long as we can afford it) when Monday rolls around. Assuming they remember to ask for it.

[BabyBre]

I'd be flat broke if teaching kids about money involved my giving it to them in huge quantities so that they could somehow mimic the financial responsibilities of older teens and adults.

 

 

Of course we'd all be broke if we did that. Let's poll and see how many parents in this thread are giving their children money in "huge quantities". The general feeling in this thread is that those who are paid for anything are paid in small amounts. That's where the money management lessons come in.

 

I think you can pretend with money all you want, but until a child feels and learns to control that very strong desire for instant gratification that is inevitable when you combine children and money, they're not really prepared. That's what's gotten so many people in such a mess today - that powerful desire to have it all right now, even though they can't afford it yet.

[Ria]

Of course we'd all be broke if we did that. Let's poll and see how many parents in this thread are giving their children money in "huge quantities". The general feeling in this thread is that those who are paid for anything are paid in small amounts. That's where the money management lessons come in.

 

I think you can pretend with money all you want, but until a child feels and learns to control that very strong desire for instant gratification that is inevitable when you combine children and money, they're not really prepared. That's what's gotten so many people in such a mess today - that powerful desire to have it all right now, even though they can't afford it yet.

 

LOL. Some of the posters mentioned $1 per week per year of age. Hmmm. Do the math. Right now at home I have boys aged 16, 14, 13, and 11....$54 per week counts as a "huge quantity" to me. I guess it might not seem like a lot to some of you, but I couldn't come up with an additional $200 per month. That is huge to me.

 

Ria

[Rosy]

LOL. Some of the posters mentioned $1 per week per year of age. Hmmm. Do the math. Right now at home I have boys aged 16, 14, 13, and 11....$54 per week counts as a "huge quantity" to me. I guess it might not seem like a lot to some of you, but I couldn't come up with an additional $200 per month. That is huge to me.

 

Ria

$200/mo. is a lot...but some people spend that much money on their kids for clothes, activities, going out with friends, etc....my thought is that if I'm going to give my kids money, I want them to earn it rather than just have it handed to them.

[BabyBre]

LOL. Some of the posters mentioned $1 per week per year of age. Hmmm. Do the math.

 

Ria

 

 

Actually, I mentioned that. That's what we pay our dc. I also mentioned that 1/3 of that is mandatorily saved into an IRA, and 1/3 is saved in the bank. Saving is, obviously, a huge part of the money lesson - the majority, in fact. What goes into their pockets weekly is 1/3 of their age, and they're encouraged to save it.

 

I would never in a million years think of giving my ds15 $15 a week! THAT would be wasted money! On $5 a week, ds is responsible for buying lunch at school (he's welcome to pack one from home for free but never does), taking care of anything he may need to buy for class, work, Boy Scouts, etc, and buying Mom a latte in exchange for a ride to school if he misses the bus (he doesn't miss it much anymore!). This requires him to have a small reserve saved up, which is extremely hard for this (still!) candy addict.

 

I also mentioned that this is an adaptation of a program by Clark Howard. I think the original program calls for the weekly allowance to be the child's grade in school, which would be much less than their age. We changed it for our family because 1/3 of that didn't seem to be enough for them to learn the lessons we wanted them to learn. We only have 3 dc, so this was an affordable option for us.

 

The point is that the amount of the allowance NOT be enough to cover their "expenses", but enough for them to see the effects of their efforts and teach them to think long term.

[katilac]

I'm curious about everyone who posted along the lines of "why should my kids get paid for chores or simply for being in the family; I don't get paid for that."

 

That seems odd to me - - surely grown people aren't going around without a dollar in their pocket? Even if you discount things like haircuts, clothes, etc - do you never go out to lunch, buy a magazine or a cup of coffee? If you don't work for pay, and you get to choose how to spend a certain amount of money on items for yourself, then you are indeed 'getting paid' for your contributions and for being part of the family.

 

In this thread, the people who don't give allowances seem to start off very opposed to it on the grounds of kids not needing money, and not wanting to pay for expected behaviour, but then the reasons veer off a little.

 

If you give your kids money for outings, or buy them treats and toys, then you agree that they need money, you just choose to provide it in a different way. If you don't give allowance because it's cost prohibitive, that's very different from "kids SHOULDN'T get allowance."

 

We do give an allowance, not tied to chores, but I don't think it's the only way to do things. I just wanted to weigh in on the fact that kids who get allowance from an early age aren't neccesarily more 'spoiled' than those who don't; I'd say my kids work harder and have less frivolous things than most kids we know.