[Julie Vazquez]

An allowance is your first opportunity to teach your children to respect money and to teach them that money is something that must be earned. How do you handle allowances with your children?

[simssavings]

I don't give allowances to my children. I believe they need to earn, for example I would rather reward them on chores. My daughter expects an allowance for good grades but school is a requirement and not something she has earned. She needs to work hard and that is the lesson I would much rather her learn.

[baileygirl'smom]

My daughter, 7, earns an allowance. We started this summer. She had a chore chart on the fridge and she had to check off the "chores" as she did them.....feeding the dog breakfast and dinner, setting the dinner table, helping clear the dinner table, putting her clothes away, cleaning her room, getting he mail (not sure what the thrill is, but she likes to do it). When she got her allowance on Sunday's she had to divide it up into envelopes....spending, savings and charity. Her charity money will be going toward her Angel Tree gift this year.

[baileygirl'smom]

OH, meant to add that she also loses $$ for things too. Every time I head upstairs and every single light is on, she loses .25/light. Same at dinner. If I have to remind her to chew with her mouth closed or not talk with food in her mouth, she pays me . It's a complete pain in the you know where to keep change around for this, but it's working!

[Julie Vazquez]

I don't give my boys an allowance, although they can earn money by doing extra chores around the house for me. This doesn't include the everyday stuff like taking out the trash, cleaning their rooms, etc. I think these things are expected of them with no monetary reward for being a part of the family and keeping our house nice. No one pays us moms to cook, clean, and do the laundry, right?

I do think it's a missed opportunity not to give allowances though. Like baileygirl'smom said, she splits the allowance into three groups, spending, savings and charity. That's a really neat idea, and a great life lesson for her daughter.

[jhamilton]

My daughter is 5 and earns $1 per year of age a week (so right now it's $5 a week). She has simple age-appropriate chores that I hope to turn into habits, ie. feeding the fish, cleaning her bedroom and bathroom, sweeping the floors. Past chores include helping someone, helping with laundry (which came about after I caught her wiping dirty hands on her pants). The chores change as things become habit or she's at an age where it's something that should just be done because she's a member of the household.

A laminated piece of paper allows us to track chores weekly. On "pay day" we count out the money and together decide how much is for spending, saving, and saving for a particular goal. Now that she's a girl scout and a bit older, I'm looking forward to introducing giving into that division.

I'm proud to say that though she has had to give up some money while breaking bad habits at the tune of a dollar a piece, my daughter has saved enough money for such things like horse riding lessons and Disneyland tickets. She is also learning to plan her finances, as she needs to make sure that she has spending money available for her girl scout patches along the way.

[ohhkaiye]

jhamilton, on 18 November 2010 - 12:39 PM, said:

My daughter is 5 and earns $1 per year of age a week (so right now it's $5 a week). She has simple age-appropriate chores that I hope to turn into habits, ie. feeding the fish, cleaning her bedroom and bathroom, sweeping the floors. Past chores include helping someone, helping with laundry (which came about after I caught her wiping dirty hands on her pants). The chores change as things become habit or she's at an age where it's something that should just be done because she's a member of the household.

A laminated piece of paper allows us to track chores weekly. On "pay day" we count out the money and together decide how much is for spending, saving, and saving for a particular goal. Now that she's a girl scout and a bit older, I'm looking forward to introducing giving into that division.

I'm proud to say that though she has had to give up some money while breaking bad habits at the tune of a dollar a piece, my daughter has saved enough money for such things like horse riding lessons and Disneyland tickets. She is also learning to plan her finances, as she needs to make sure that she has spending money available for her girl scout patches along the way.

I with your way of handling allowance. I have a 9 year old that I am starting an allowance with. I love how you break things down. He has had chores for a while now so they are a becoming habit. I feel its time to reward him for being a responsible child.

[jenelleH]

ohhkaiye, on 23 January 2011 - 06:13 AM, said:

I with your way of handling allowance. I have a 9 year old that I am starting an allowance with. I love how you break things down. He has had chores for a while now so they are a becoming habit. I feel its time to reward him for being a responsible child.

Thank you! I appreciate the response. It really seems to work out well and I have to report that we have added in the "giving" portion of the plan, with typically $1 a week allocated. Though right now she mainly knows about giving money at church I'm hoping to introduce her to other charitable organizations that she can associate with.

[smartstep]

We do the "commission" approach where we only pay for what is done. Max does have a set of chores that he does because he is a member of the family and the chores we pay for are age appropriate to help mom and dad. We too divide between savings, spending and charity. We used to charge him money when we were having behavior issues - such as he would not get stop getting out of bed, so every time he was out it was 25 cents. But we stopped that because right now it is not overly effective. He would rather lose money than dessert or game time.

The biggest thing we make sure to do is adjust as he grows older and his interests change. What worked when he was 3 does not work now. So we change the chores, the payout and the lessons!