How do (or did) you do it? Do you have a set rate? Do you connect it with chores, special jobs, etc? Do you help them budget? I have done allowances several different ways over the years, but haven't really been satisfied with any one way. We live in the country where there are not many opportunities for children to earn money with traditional jobs like a paper route, yard work, snow shoveling, etc. My oldest son is working for a neighbour splitting wood, but the younger ones can't do that!

-- Cathy N. (keeper8@attcanada.ca), November 05, 2001

Answers

There was no such thing as an allowance when I was a kid. I don't think money had been invented yet either!! My neice's children get $.50 per year of age if the chores get done. The chores are rotated weekly with each child getting first choice of chore, rotated also. Chores can be exchanged with managements approval. One chore ignored puts child at the back of the choise of first choise list, two chores ignored, the same with no money that week, three chores ignored equals grounding and solotary confindment without electronic toys. There are no excuptions other than illness. A family contract was made and signed by all.

-- mitch hearn (moopups@citlink.net), November 05, 2001.

A couple of weeks ago this came up in another questions I think here. I started my son who will be 6 in December on an allowance.He gets 3.00 a week if all the regular chores are done. He gets extra for any job not a regular chore. I can not believe the change!!I never have to tell him twice and he now asked for things to do. He is saving for a horse and sells eggs, pecan, and now is asking all the family if when I go to town if there is anything he can do for his piggy bank.I do know when I was young I was much more careful with money when it was mine!!Good luck

-- Micheale from SE Kansas (mbfrye@totelcsi.net), November 05, 2001.

When my children were young they got an allowance proportionate to age and need. I made it to include expenses like school lunches and recreational things and they made their own budgets. I felt it was an educational opportunity for them in money management. It was not attached to chores as I believed that chores were just a part of being in the family and doing them was not an option. Chores were always in accordance with the abilities and interests of the children and gave them a feeling of being useful and needed in the family.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), November 05, 2001.

The kids all get an allowance each week, depending on the grade they are in. They have to do their chores, no matter what, so that really isn't an issue for us.

-- Melissa (me @home.net), November 05, 2001.

When my boys hit high school, I figured what a school lunch would cost each day, one movie (plus popcorn and a drink) per week at the local theater, and $5 per week mad money. Gave them the cash to start the month, and they had to make it last.

It taught them budgeting. The younger one came home to eat lunch each day so he would have money to spend on other things. Good thinking!!

-- Rose (open_rose@hotmail.com), November 05, 2001.

never gave any of our five kids an allowance. I always told them that nobody paid Dad and I for just "being there" and they would not get paid either. On the other hand, we always encouraged them to work for others to get extra money for things they wanted that were special. My kids pulled weeds, mowed lawns, painted garages, etc...we had an advantage in that we lived in the "burbs" when they were growing up. Our youngest son is a junior in college in Philly. He goes to school full time and works at Barnes & Noble full time as well, still maintaining a 3.5 average and a girlfriend LOL....he told me last year that when he was in high school he always resented the fact that we made him work for his own car, etc. when most of his friends had Saabs from their parents...but now that he is an old man of 21, he said he can see that his friends are clueless as to the value of things..he is grateful that we made him work for what he wanted. The other kids are all the same...We just never thought it was good to pay a child for doing house or yard chores. If my kids wanted to go to the movies for example and all their chores were done,Dad and I paid for them to go..

-- lesley (martchas@bellsouth.net), November 05, 2001.

I always loved ALLOWANCE time. But it seems as the years go by, allowances are larger, like the price of things get greater. A dollar was always what Chris and i got, sometimes just 50 each. I think the most important thing to do , is teach what EARNING money is. Whenever Chris and i got newspapre jobs, we ended up going ALL OUT on candy, instead of using for better things. OPPS. I don't know how i was such a boney kid . i used about five dollars on candy three times a week. And thats only 2.50 american. =)

-- jillian (sweetunes483@yahoo.com), November 05, 2001.

My middle daughter started saving her money when she was 4 years old to buy a horse. Whenever she saw something she really thought she wanted, we would ask the question, is this worth postponing the horse? NOT! When she was 9, she was able to make a $368. down payment on her horse and worked the rest of it off in extra chores. Now her allowance is given to her in "horse stuff." I gotta tell you, too, this kid is a hard worker! She picks up her spending money doing outside chores and animal care for others. She is 12 now. When we go to town, she never has more that 5$ with her, she is saving up for her next horse.

My eldest daughter does a lot of work in the house and we pay her the going rate for housekeepers, $4 an hour for above and beyond family duty. We also pay her to babysit her little sister even when she says she doesn't want to get paid for that. She also has other families she babysits for.

My little kid, well, her allowance is our spare change, mostly pennies. She is almost 7 but is quite immature for her age. He chore is to mainly dress herself with the tags in the back, put her toys away and feed the chickens and gather the eggs.

One of the things I like about my kids is that they have never gotten the gimmies. They appreciate what we can give them and they work hard. The 2 oldest ones remember when we had nothing to give them and we would have to borrow against their birthday money to buy food.

-- Laura (LadybugWrangler@hotmail.com), November 05, 2001.

Thanks so much for all the answers. I guess part of the problem with us is that our homeschooled, country children really don't have any necessary expenses, unless I start having them buy their own clothes and shoes. Eating out is a luxury; if they want something more than what's on the budget, they have to buy it themselves. Also, my daughter saw a shirt at the thrift store that she really wanted but did not need--she paid for it. My 13 year old is standing here objecting to things as I type. He says they do have necessary expenses. I say, like what? He says, he needs capital to start a computer business! Actually, he is very good with computers and is learning a lot by building his own. But they don't have bus tickets, school lunches, and other things like that to purchase.

-- Cathy N. (keeper8@attcanada.ca), November 05, 2001.

My kids do get an allowance once they are school aged. They do not get a lot (my 8 year old gets $1/week and my 6 year old gets $0.50/week). That is their money to spend or save as they please. Their allowance is a privelege that can be revoked for misbehavior, (as in, if they cannot act like school-aged children they will not have the priveleges of such) but is not contingent on finishing chores. I expect them to finish their chores just as they expect me to finish mine! We try to run this household on the team approach, with everyone pitching in. The kids are told quite often that if they help out, the cleaning (or gardening, or whatever) will be done sooner and we will all be able to go play sooner! That is the motivation. I will also pay them for jobs that they do that are not normal chores. For example, in the spring time I pay them a penny a piece for trash picked up on our property. You would be amazed at how much trash they find! We aren't messy people, but we live in a suburb in the country and have a lot of close neighbors. It's amazing what the snow hides! We've done weeding this way and collecting kindling this way. They also come to work with me sometimes and if they help me out there I pay them $1 per hour (subcontracting at it's finest!). I do not require them to help me out, but they will help out about half the time. On the flip side, I will charge them if they cause me needless work. They have to put their coats on their respective coat racks and their backpacks in their rooms when they get home from school. If they don't they are fined a quarter. I tell them it's the maid's fee! They don't often leave their things for me to clean up! Also, if they have left chores undone, they are not allowed to go play or participate in any other activities until those chores are finished (for example, my daughter will be cleaning her room tomorrow as soon as she gets home from school!).

-- Sheryl in Me (radams@sacoriver.net), November 05, 2001.

Oh, Cathy, being a country homeschooler is not part of the problem, it is most of the solution! They may not have opportunities to earn money, but they are not constantly bombarded with the temptations of living in town and having the peer pressure to have everything that everyone else has! Finding something to do in the country is usually free, instead of $10 worth of quarters that I see town kids getting from their parents.

My kids work hard so they can have extracurricular activities. One on a dance team, all of them in horse 4-H. They pay their own way with this, with money they earn and by making sure the home chores are done, too, so I can take the time away from the place.

I don't think there is a one size fits all allowance plan. Each family and each child is different and things change in a family and kids grow. I think the best way to teach kids to handle money is by example. If they see you carefully shop within your budget, they will learn.

Have your children thought about a "farm plan" for earning money? Perhaps their own flock of chickens to sell eggs, or their own garden plot? Trust me, a failed rabbit business is quite an education for a kid. She wanted to sell them for pets, people wanted to buy them for dinner!

-- Laura (LadybugWrangler@hotmail.com), November 05, 2001.

Laura, thanks for the encouragement. My older daughter takes care of the rabbits; when we get a new buck she will try to sell the bunnies. I don't think she'll care whether they are pets or meat; our does are her pets, but she has made stew of their brothers:) We also thought of setting up a vermicompost bin under the hutch for fishing worms. And I hope to start selling eggs in the spring; whoever helps with chicken chores will share the profits. I guess I just needed to hear what others are doing to encourage me to keep going.

-- Cathy N. (keeper8@attcanada.ca), November 06, 2001.