BellaOnline Forums Family Work & Family Should Children Get an Allowance?

When I was a child, I never received an allowance, however, I was comfortable asking my parents, especially my dad, for money for candy, etc.

I am an advocate of giving a small allowance to children to help them understand the value of a dollar and the need to save for what you want. What are reader feelings on allowances? I would love to hear (or read) your thoughts.

I believe children should receive an allowance in exchange for extra chores around the house.

Taisha,

I suspect that's where most parents stand now. Kids don't always understand the money-concept. When my girlfriends daughter was 4 or 5 years old, she thought all her mother had to do was drive to the bank teller's window and "give the lady a note" and mom would receive money. You should have seen my friends face as she told me the story. The child learned received her first money lesson from mommy.

I wonder if any parent gives an allowance, 'just because' these days.

The only time I received an allowance was for a chore/duty exchange. This way early on, I knew what needed to be done to get that amount of money, and I didn't just waste it. My son lives with his father and doesn't get an allowance but does do chores around the house, he is 5 right now, 6 in afew months.

My girl is only 1 and I have no problem when she is older, giving her an allowance rather than just buying her anything she wants. I have seen that road afew times and it never turned out good.

We have a chore chart at our house that has age appropriate chores for our kids. My son is 7 and my daughter is almost 5. If they get all their chores done, they get $4 each on Friday. We have them save a dollar or 2 in their piggy banks then are allowed to spend the rest. We are thinking about opening savings accounts at the bank for them. I wasn't given an allowance until I was a teenager and hanging out at the mall all the time (I lived within a 20 minute walk of a mall....I was what we called Mallrats when I was a teen LOL)

I give my children allowance in exchange for chores. If they need extra for something, I take into account their grades, attitudes, keeping their room clean etc;

I give mine an allowance and I am so proud that it is saved or spent wisely. It's so important in todays times that children are shown how to manage some money so when they leave home they don't get themselves into unnecessary debt from mis management. One of the things I do is I make a suggestion when I give money other then for an allowance: "well you can either have that money toward that item you want now OR you can save it toward that bigger item I know you want and been speaking about". This is a fantastic strategy and there is no forcing them into the decision because you are only recommending an idea.

Our neighbors do a cool thing with their kids. They get a weekly allowance, but a pre-determined portion of it must be designated for a charity. For example, they get $5 but $1 goes to charity. The kids pick their own charities, too. And then the parents match the kids' donations. I think this is a brilliant way to teach kids about money, giving, how to make a difference, etc.

We don't "give" an allowance. Funds must be earned. Each child has a set of tasks they are expected to do as a regular part of their day - they don't receive payment for those tasks. If they want to earn money, they have to perform a task that is above and beyond what is required of them as contributing members of the household. After all, I'm not paid to do laundry; there are simply some things we do because we must in order to have the household run smoothly and happily. Our children have to learn there are things they must do for which they cannot expect payment--other than thanks and a hug. We keep a list of "extra" tasks that the children can opt to do if they feel they need funds for something extra. If they are planning a future purchase, we can add the extra task to their regular day (in essence it becomes their paid work). As they do the task each day, we record the amount they earn and then pay it out at a specified time. At this stage of the game (our children are small) charitable contributions are made in the form of time donated to service (accompanying us).

I think the idea of teaching kids to give to charity is very important! My kids donate their outgrown toys and clothes to charity and we make a day of it-thinking of the kids that will be helped.

Charity also begins with donating time as well as money.

I agree 100%, thank's for sharing Quality.

I was never taught the value of money as a child. I was never taught how precious it is in order to live and have always taken it for granted. Because of this, my credit is shot even to the point that when I apply for credit somewhere, a siren goes off when my info is fed into the computers and security escorts me off of the property. lol.

I blew the opportunity to teach my two older children the value of money because I never knew the value. My two younger children will be different. They are nine and ten and I will be giving them an allowance probably starting this new year when they are a year older. I will tell them that they should give ten percent for a tithe but will let them make that decision on their own. They do enjoy going to church so that won't be a problem. Like everyone else here, I will also tell them to put a portion of it away and they can spend the rest on what they want.

I will also sit down with them when I get my paychecks for a month and show them how much I bring home and explain to them all of the bills that need to be paid and how much of each paycheck I apply to the monthly bills and then show them how little I have left and explain what can happen if a bill doesnt get paid and how much more it will cost the next month or how much it will cost to get the lights turned back on.

I wish someone did that with me when I was younger.

When I was young we did chores and earned an allowance. I don't give an allowance to my kids...I started and stopped a couple of times, but then I would always forget and they wouldn't ask for it.
To me, it's about teaching them the value of a dollar. I know when my daughter got her first job, all of a sudden she started looking at the prices of things she wanted and wasn't so quick just to pick something up and throw it in the cart, so to speak.
Vannie, I totally chuckled at your bank scenario because my kids used to be the exact same way. Just hand the teller the colorful card and they give me money in return. "What you mean you have to put money IN the bank first?"
They save the money that they get for birhdays and stuff and use it when we go on vacation. I always tell them, whatever they manage to save, I will match. They've saved as much as $200 for one vacation...imagine my pain when I had to match it....lol...then when we got on vacation all of a sudden they became the most frugal shoppers you ever wanted to see because they were spending THEIR money. A whole different concept from the endless bank card.

Growing up, we were too poor to get an allowance and I used to hate that. I think out of my entire HS experience, I remember getting maybe $200 in total.

Our kids on the other hand are blessed to be in an upper middle class family and allowances are given but so are monthly lectures (about 5 min) about how to save, what frugal means and things of that nature. Since I didn't get an allowance, I, too, as Vance, didn't know how to handle money and when I got my first job, huh, forget the bills, it was all about me, making me look good. (Thank God for subdueing my vanity button as I've aged).

Anyway, it caused me too, to mess up my credit and not learn the value of money. So, yes I think kidz should get an allowance AND be taught about money.

Whenever, we head out shopping, hubbie and I purchase their necessities but anything outside of that, they have to foot the bill and believe it or not, it actually has made them more conscientous of spending habits. It seems so easy to say, "mommie buy me that" and see me swipe the card and give them the purchase but hey....when they have to divvy up the money out of their lil' wallets, according to my lil' son (he's 10), even a packet of gum, he reaches for the cheaper one.