Allowence Time!

I love this question!!! I have found something that works soo wonderful for me, and feel many parents may like it too.

I am a love and logic mom, and I love the Love&Logic approach to allowance. They say "would you make your child work for pencils for school? for thier books? for the paper or supplies needed?" Most parents probably say no. "So why should we make our children EARN the money to learn Money Management?"

I Give my son 7 dollars a week, on saturday morning, with an invoice that says:

Amount: 7.00
Less Charges____________ For:
Total:______

Save 10% and Enjoy the Rest.
When its Gone, Its Gone.
We Love You!

The way I look at it, Kids cost money, Ice cream cones at the store, candy bars here and there, a little treat, movies, skating, swiming, toys between Birthdays and Christmas because they want it sooo bad!!!
I just Give my son the money I spend on him to manage.

BUT... There is a methood to my madness..

He gets assigned chores, we went trough and made and age appropriate list of things WE ALL DO to make our house hold function, I dont get paid to do my chores, he dont get paid to do his chores. BUT if he doesnt do his chores, He can pay someone else to do them, and I can do the same, say he wants to earn extra cash, "mom, I'll clean your bathroom for 10 dollars!!" I tell him, "No thanks, too much for me, I'll do it my self" He says "Well how will you pay me to do it then?" I tell him 2 dollars" He can take it or leave it, He's learning to negoiate, to think for him self, to work for something above and beyond what he already does, He's learning so much, then if He doesnt do his bathroom, and doesnt get someone else to do it, No problem, I'll do it, I dont mind, but I charge a lot more than maybe one of his friends.

When the money is already in his hands, its harder to give it up, so he does his chores so he can keep his money.
When he has to EARN the money, if he doesnt do his chores, he really dont care because he didnt have it in the first place and you cant miss what you never had. And he know's mom will pay for stuff still..

I am so amazed at how good my son is with money, He has been very careless with his "easy earned" money and got 65 dollars stolen, cheep lesson (expensive for him), now he bought a wallet, keeps his money in there and in his pocket at all times. He Never goes w/o knowing where his money is and how much he has, and when he wants something, He pays for it, I encourage him to want things, and to believe in him self enough to have what it takes to get it, and I have more money in my wallet too because with him buying all his stuff, (I am his mother so I do buy necessities and treat him once in a while) but I'm not over spending because I'm not paying attention to how much is going out of my own wallet, its 7 dollars a week, 28 dollars a month at the most, He's 12 and in 7th grade, It was less when he was younger, kids cost less when they're younger, but he has to save for his College, He chooses to have an additional savings in a safe we have at home for Rainy Days.

I'm truely amazed, you can learn more with the Love and Logic info, I cant remember which book I read it from but there website is http://www.loveandlogic.com

GL and Have Fun!!!

Sorry, I forgot one more thing: When my son didnt brush his teeth, and got cavities - Guess Who Paid for the Dentil Bill :) (giggle) that saved me a bunch of money too!!!

I don't know if it's right or wrong, but I have started giving my three year old a quarter every time he wakes up with a dry pull up and every day at the end of the day if he hasn't had any timeouts.. It is work he can do to earn it.. and he knows when his piggy bank is full he can bring his money to the bank and trade it for dollars to get something at WalMart or to save.. I think it is important to teach kids about EARNING and SAVING money with responsibility. We don't buy our kids many toys other than for birthdays or holidays, so it is really meaningful for him to be able to earn something. He appreciates his toys when he gets them, and he knows if he works really hard to save up he can get that next toy he's been wanting! Sometimes if he wants to earn more, he'll ask if he can help fold laundry or do something helpful he knows he can do.

I know that when my nephew was about 4 years, he started to ask for an allowance. We had him do little extra things, other than picking up his toys and cleaning his room...he feed and watered the cats everyday, just little easy things. I think that my sister started giving him $2 a week. As he got older his chores increased, picking up any trash in the yard, picking up dog poop, ect., and the amount increased also. He is 8 now and he gets an allowance, but he is only allowed ½ of it, because the rest goes into his savings account. I don't know if it will help, but good luck!

I've been considering starting my 4-year-old with an allowance and I've done some research on it. I've read that it's a good idea to set part of the allowance as a set deal - say $2 a week and they get that no matter what. Then another portion is paid for additional chores, say they help with chores that are not their standard chores. And then have them split their allowance into save and spend. Say, have them save 60% (for school or presents at christmas, whatever you deem necessary they save for)and then the 40% they get to spend however they like (within reason, of course) so when they are begging you for that new toy, you tell them they have to use their "spend" portion.

A lot of people say kids shouldn't get an allowance because kids should help out as that's just part of being in a family and I agree. I think that no matter what,children should have chores, but that their allowance shouldn't necessarily be tied into those standard chores, hence the standard amount, but I also think that they shouldn't get that money if they neglect to do their share.

It's a lot to think about but I think it's important that kids some good money management early. Let us know what you decide.

Hi, J.,

Here's the system I set up for my daughter (who just turned 5 a few weeks ago).

I set up a "chore chart" with the days of the week and 5 chores per day that she can perform to earn stickers. Hers are make her bed, clear her dishes and put in dishwasher, pick up and put away toys and shoes, and feed the cat.

I prorate her allowance at the end of the week (on Sunday) based on how many stickers she earned. If she did all of the chores for all 7 days, she gets $1.00. If she did 75% of the chores, she gets .75 and so on.

I plan on raising the stakes (harder chores, more pay) as she gets older, but figured this makes a good start.

I also know of parents who have a "chore jar" with things to be done written on slips of paper that have a set dollar amount attached to them.

Good luck and let us know what you decide to do.

M.

Hi -

A good method that I read was giving your children their age in money each month. My son is 4 so he gets $4 each month. I give him $1 each week for doing his chores. He has 6 small chores that he does each day and keeps track with a job box. It's worked well for him (and for me too) :)

K.

When I was young my parents gave us .25 cents each week after our chores were done. They also paid us .05 cents for each day that we practiced the piano. My sister gave her kids .10 cents for every year they were old, so a 4 year old would get .40 cents each week. My husband and I give our kids things they can do to earn money so we are not just giving it to them and they feel a sense of accomplishment My friend earned money as a teen and gave it to her dad. She then made her own checks and had a family checking account with her dad being the banker. She would write and sign a check to recieve cash. To me it seems that we as parents give kids most of what they already need. An allowance teaches them about money, but most small kids don't need things we are not already giving them.