childhood allowance

no, i'm not talking about being 'allowed'
to do something. i wanna know if you were
given an allowance as a kid. meaning,
did you receive something of a monetary
value for a service/behavior? despite your
own childhood, do you think that receiving
an allowance is a good motivator? (think of
that last Q in terms of kids. you can even
compare it to your job)

i never received an allowance as a kid.
it was my parents contention that they
should not have to pay for something i
should be doing anyway...

this was always quite depressing... not
the fact that i didn't receive money...
but that the list of things i was 'supposed
to do anyway' seemed insurmountable and
consistant.

I don't remember if i received an allowance, usually, if i needed money, they would give it to me...assuming it was something worth while...and if i ever really wanted something, i could just ask my grandmother....when she died....i didn't have the same libety, but only a year or two later, i had my first job (at age 15 might i add)...ever since then, i never needed money from my parents (well, occassionaly i did...)

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="Tempus Sans ITC, Tahoma">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#000000"><font size=2 face="Tempus Sans ITC, Tahoma">i never received an allowance as a kid.
it was my parents contention that they
should not have to pay for something i
should be doing anyway...</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

Same here.... and I always thought that giving kids (not 5 year old though) a certain amount every week or month teaches them to handle money responsibly.

I also think that giving kids money for doing their chores is the wrong way to go...

ok... a slight tangent....

if giving kids money for chores is wrong (to a degree)
whats the difference in getting paid for your job?
granted, its not something you HAVE to do...
but you do have to work at something to live
(ie.. get paid etc).

so is giving money to kids for chores any
less delusional than getting paid to work?

*why do i feel like this thread is about to turn philosophical??* [img]eek.gif[/img]

hm...interesting point

I was going to say that I think kids should be given some money regardless of their chores but then that would raise a question of how they'd learn to earn and value money so I don't know where I'm going with this


[img]confused.gif[/img]

lol... its ok. its one of the reasons i created
this topic. cuz i can't seem to put a handle on
it either... [img]tongue.gif[/img]

would you give your children an allowance and why?

i dunno! [img]graemlins/cry.gif[/img]

thats why i have this thread! [img]graemlins/cry.gif[/img] [img]tongue.gif[/img]

okay I *think* I would.

I would want my kids to do their chores but I wouldn't make the allowance dependant on the chores.

as a child, i never got an allowance. as in there was never a set amount of money that i was entitled to receive on a regular basis.

as a kid, i always had a bit of money with me (in case of emergencies, etc). but whenever i wanted something, i would tell my parents and they would buy it for me (it wasn't as simple as just giving them a list of requests, but basically, i would usually get whatever it was i wanted as long as it was within reason and if i wanted it for long enough).

even when i started working, at the tender (and minimum legal) age of 15, it still worked on the same principle, my wages would be directly deposited into my bank (my my employer) and i would still ask for what i wanted, which my parents bought and my work money would basically acrue.

these days, because i spend considerably more money than before for general day to day activities, i basically ask my parents for money when my cash on hand runs out. therefore trying to get as little cash out of the bank as possible.

i have analysed my parents' philosophy. they were really adamant about not giving allowances and i belive that was to have greater control over me. i would not be given the opportunity to 'save up for something' so that i would not be able to 'plan' for things. with their system, i had to ask for major purchases and they would know EXACTLY what i wanted and ultimately controlled what i had.

another thing that i notice that's different from others my age is their distinction between their parents' money and their money (like someone saying that she didn't care that she spends a fortune on the phone because it's her dad's phone and her dad pays for it - i've always found this somewhat bizarre and disturbing). this is probably another reason why my parents were against allowances. i've always grown up with the idea that my parents' money is my money just as mine is theirs and all of it is OURS (if my parents asked me for money, i wouldn't hesitate to give it to them) so the money we earn as a family sorta just gets all pooled together. so i guess for this (and other) reasons, we're a pretty tight knit family.

i never got paid for doing chores in exactly the same reason that shatzy and ivana didn't. they didn't think it was necessary to pay for something that was expected (although until i got my first job, i had no idea how to mop a floor and until about two years ago, i didn't know how to use the washing machine).

i don't think kids should be paid for chores as it gives the impression that the kid's existence is a clean slate and everything that's required of them to do (ie chores) is something added on and deserves some form of compensation for it (usually in terms of money). this then obliges the parent to pay the kid everytime it does something and the kid'll probably think that they've no responsibility towards themselves, their parents, the upkeeping of their house, which i think is wrong. as well as seeming to reward the kid for doing something that is quite banal and undeserving of reward.

giving allowances, i'm not sure about. yes i believe it does teach kids the value of money and good money skills but i also think that it separates in the kids' minds their money from their parents' money. of course this'll occur at some stage of their development but i don't think it's a healthy state of mind for kids to be in.


so um. yeah.

sorry it's been long.

Yes I had an allowance from about the time I was 7 yrs to about 13 or 14 yrs of age I think. Started off as somewhere around $1 a week to ending at something like $10 a week until I got a job and earned the real cold hard cash.

Was it good? Bad? All I can say is for the work I had to do it was a small amount of money that my parents could use as a tool when all else failed to keep me doing the things I should be doing anyhow without the fear of some sort of physical punishment.

On the good side it did develope an ealry choice to be able to pick what I wanted without having to have the pre approval of anyone else saying it was ok. This was nice as it made me actually feal like I had a say. And just to prove it I would go buy $$$ worth of candy or toys or video games many times just to prove that I could. But on the other end when I knew my parents couldn't afford or more so wouldnt put money away for an item I HAD to have. I could start saving for it and eventually get it.

I think this helped me in saving for an buying every car I have owned along with bikes. The down side... if they broke.. well hey you have your own money fix it. :-(


I dont think I would give an allowance for anyone younger then 7 yrs old though as the whole money greed could envelope them and kids learn to use things to hurt other kids. Example.... kids goes to school with $$$ money in his pocket and someone else doesn't get the same from his parents the $$$ kid could use money to buy his friends.

We had a kid who would take his weekly allowance and buy candy at lunch and then give it all to kids who hung around him. Who would have thought that could happen in 3-5th grade?


CYA [img]confused.gif[/img]

i used to get an allowance, but no money for chores, the allowance ran from about.. 0.40$ a week to.. 1.25$ later on. Not quite much, but it did teach me the value of money, since i never had much of an income. But to be honest, my work taught me more about the value of money than my allowance did.

sf stated (in my rendition) that when paying for
chores (basic room upkeep et al), it doesn't
exactly teach the value of cleaning up after
yourself FOR yourself... but for profit.

i completely agree with this notion. the value
should be found in the effects of cleaning up
(ie... organization, found items prior lost, etc)

i think everyone here will agree to that.

also, in as far as money, zela said that he
understood a clearer value of money through
emplyment as opposed to an allowance, which
i also think we all can agree on.

i guess this is pretty obvious.... but it seems
to suggest that when you are doing something
for yourself, a richer value is received in
the initial effects of that 'work'....
and when you are doing something FOR another
(not necessarily your boss... but for the
strangers you 'work' for)... the money is a better reward.

(now i don't wanna get all involved in some
spiritual reward/value for doing something for
someone else... cuz thats not how i wanna make
this thread)

what if -- hypothetically -- you were rewarded
with money occassionally (for doing chores)...
like some random moment? is it possible to
obtain both 'rewards' under the same structure?

in regards to money spending -- i agree with
cya in that you can be allowed a certain money
to spend how you like... but you essentially
learn to save/spend based on wins and losses
(like spending all your money on something that
will require upkeep).

ahhhhh.... perhaps thats the rub.
to spend your money on something that would
require upkeep -- essentially teaching you to
spend wisely as well as maintaining that 'thing'
to a neat perspective.

ok... so that can somewhat balance my first set
of Qs... but what about younger ages? they can't
purchase vehicles and such that would require
maintenance et al.

so.... my first set of Qs.... how do you establish
both sets of values/rewards in someone much younger?

hmmm, i wonder where you are trying to go, but personally, i wouldn't give my children not much money if i gave them allowance, and if i did give them allowance, i'd keep it seperated from chores, more or less a way of introducing them to money, because work does teach you the value of money, but getting very little allowance will teach you the merit of saving money.

And i wouldn't give them money at random times, that just sounds wrong, it reminds me of skinner too much.

the purpose of rewarding the child with money
at random times is to possibly prevent the child
from associating the chores with getting paid...
if the child got a small amount of money once
a week or so.... nothing 'established' (like, say,
every friday)... i would think the child would
not be certain if money would come at every
interval... and do the chores in the chance that
money were given... but when it wasn't...
possibly seeing the alterior value of doing chores.

yes, i know what you mean, but i get the impression that that would give the kid a very bad view on money, in the sense that he cannot learn to control his flow of income.
So it won't really help to learn him to save, or to value it. It will detacht it from chores, but giving a small amount on a regular basis should do the same.

My younger brother and i used to get $5 a week for doing chores, this was when we were really young, like 10 and 8. I think i had to unload the dishwasher and he had to load it. This continued for a couple of years. However he stopped doing his chores but i continued doing mine as well as other things like the washing and vaccuming and stuff. I complained and said i should get more. I think it went up to $10 then and he still got $5. Then he complained that i was getting more.
Anyway we wrote down a list of jobs that we had to do, like 6 each or something like that. This was when i was i think 16 so he would have been 14. Anyway we had heaps of jobs each such as emptying the rubbish, compost, taking the rubbish bins up, cleaning the house, dusting etc, and we got $30 a week.

Anyway i think that giving a child money for doing chores is a great idea (if you can afford it). I always had money for when i went out and things and i hardly ever scabbed money off mum and dad.

Now i have a job so i don't get money, but i still do things around the house and help out when i can (damn homework). My brother doesn't really get money either but he doesn't deserve it he does nothing except eat and watch tv.

$30 a week for those kinda chores is ALOT, imo.
if it was a major seasonal job... like raking
leaves or cleaning the gutters... i think $10
is fair... for a kid around 10-15.

pulling in $30 for weekly chores brings home
over $100 a month... fuck me! i never had that
kinda moolah at 16....

i don't have that kinda money now... [img]tongue.gif[/img]
hmmmm...

We had to do a lot more, i agree it was a lot. We hardly ever saw the money anyway, but i saved up like $400 to spend when i went to Central Australia, and anything that i wanted i paid for myself.