Poll: Allowence for kids...

[BigToque]

My GF and I got into a discussion about chores for our kids (whenever they come along).

I said that you should start off relatively small, like $5 a week for keeping the room clean and taking out the garbage.

Then I said that you can increase it to say a max of $20 when they are older like 14 or 15, and they keep their room clean, cut the grass, help with dishes and various other chores that the kids can do as they get older.

I say allowence should stop at 15 because by 16 you are legally allowed to work. Anything before that needs parental permission and most businesses wont bother.

Anyway, my GF says that I'm giving WAYYYYYY too much money and she doesn't want things like keeping their room clean to be part of their chores because she just expects it to be done.

I guess the problem lies in that my family was relatively well off with only 4 people, and her's was not. They cut corners everywhere to make ends meet with a family of 6.

What are your thoughts? Please keep in mind that these values are in Canadian dollars.

EDIT:

Also, my GF says that it doesn't matter if it's a boy or girl, she doesn't want the son to do just the grass and have the girl do the dishes. She wants the kids to experience all of the chores. I tend to agree with her, so long as the girl is old enough to make sure she'll be safe with the mower.

Your thoughts? (I know there is a thread about this already, but this is in regards to young kids as opposed to adults)

 

[jspeicher]

Give 'em $20/week, and more if they do a bunch of work.

 

[bobbybe01]

Seems like you and your gf had different life experiences and thus different governing values. It's good that you both are talking about this now.

Both of you have valid points and I'm sure that a solution will be made. The most important thing about an allowance (from the parent's point of view) is to teach children responsibility, how they can't earn money for doing nothing, etc.

As far as the room cleaning issue, I would recommend using that as part of the children's allowance when they are relatively young. When they get a little bit older, it should be expected and therefore doesn't need to be part of the allowance. I highly doubt that you will make your 5 or 6 year old mow the lawn.

Overall, the allowance is something the children should earn. Base it on the child's age and which chore(s) would be most appropriate for them.

 

[Juice Box]

There is 2 main ways you can go about it. Either give them a weekly ammount for doing chores and what not...and you pay for stuff like food/clothes for them....OR you can go the other route like my friends parents did and give them $60 every 2 weeks and they have to pay for everything....gas food clothes ect. I personally like my weekly allowance (which i dont get on a weekly basis so it adds up over the year) because I work 2 jobs anyways so I dont really need their money...it ends up being a wya to pay off my debts to my folks

 

[notfred]

As a little kid, I got paid a couple bucks a week, and it increased to a max of $10/week when Iwas maybe 13 or 14. I stopped getting allowance at 16.

I was expected to help clean up after dinner, vacuum the hosue once a week, mow the lawn when required, and help clean the bathroom once a week.

It seemed reasonable to me then, and still seems reasonable to me now. It seems to match your scenario more than your girlfriends.

 

[gar3555]

well "chores" as you call them, ie things you should do everyday anyways, shouldn't be worth any money, they should be done no matter what. Now granted I had a different experience, growing up on a farm, where chores actually meant work, but that is my opinion.

 

[Juno]

well, i get allowance from parents every saturday for keeping house clean. yet, it turned me into a clean freak. and right now, i'm 21 and living with parents for the summer. i work and keep the house clean and surprisely, my parents give me money for allowance. i was like, wtf? i get money from work and now i get more money from parents. sweet, i deposit big money in my banking account.

if your house is a huge mess and your children never learn to maintain the cleaniness. then you should start teaching them how to clean house or they won't get either allowance or reward.

if you still want to give allowance then giving allowance to your children is a good idea but start at relatively small amount maybe five bucks a week so they can use that money to spend whatever and whensoever they want. i used to spend 5 bucks on ice cream bars and arcade games. when they become adolescene, try to increase the amount of money to like 20 bucks or something. i used to get 20 bucks and order pizza every saturday night. but now, i still get money from parents and what am i going to do with that money, either deposit it or blow it on alcohol.

 

[ShadowBlade]

well i get $10/mo to do nothing

 

[mordantmonkey]

for a sec i was thinking £'s and not canadian dollars. i change my vote that is an OK allowance amount. But, i think they should definitely keep their room clean just because they should. They need to learn to be clean out of habit not out of monetary reward. for stuff like taking out the garbage and other house chores i think they should get an allowance.

 

[jlee]

Allowance? I had a job at 11, so I'm biased.

Heh..your GF's family sounds like my family -- low income, lots of people (we had 7)...I never had an expectation of getting paid for working around the house. They're getting fed, right?

 

[BigToque]

Originally posted by: CadetLee
Allowance? I had a job at 11, so I'm biased.

What job was that?

I delivered papers when I was 9 and flyers when I was 10.

 

[Howard]

The way I see it is, if you give them money to clean up their room and stuff, they'll do it solely for a reward. Not that it's bad, but what happens when you take the money away? Do they keep doing it because they've seen the advantages of a clean room?

EDIT: I don't believe ordinary house chores require payment. Clean dishes, carpets, tile floors, etc. must be clean by necessity, and you and your SO provide so much more for them that it doesn't make sense to pay them to do it.

 

[zendari]

$1 per week * their age is fair IMO. Do vacuuming, their own laundry, clean room, and lawnmowing. If you want to go the allowance route anyway.

Personally though, I think parents need to stress that cleaning your own room is about responsibility and not about money. By the time my kids are 10 or so, I'll probably give a good $30-$40 a week and tell them to handle their own finances ie clothes and lunch money.

 

[deadlyapp]

I maxed at around 9.50, mom increased it 50 cents a year until i hit 13 then it was a dollar more a year. I think it stopped when I got a job.

 

[Kelemvor]

I don't think kids should get an allownace just for doing things they are supposed to be doing anyway. But if they do extra work then they could get some extra cash. If I always mow the lawn and I ask the kid to do it and he does, then *maybe* that'd be worth a couple bucks.

Prents buy everything for the kids already so what do they nee dan allownace for? I had a paper route when I was 12 so I could make some extra cash to buy things. I don't want to give our kid (when she's old enough) an allowance at all for standard things.

 

[pclstyle]

ehh. didn't get allowance. whenever i needed money, i just asked.

of course, takes a pretty responsible kid to make this work. my older sister paved the way, stopped taking any money from my parents once she entered a private high school. i guess i was spoiled, maybe they gave me her missed allowance on top of my own.

 

[TStep]

No allowance. I'm more concerned about instilling responsibility that is not monetarily based. Based on their respective ages, I expect a certain amount of responsibility. For my 13 year old, I expect the grass to be cut at his grandmother's without asking. For my 10 year old, I expect him to empty the garbage when it is full without hesitation. My 6 year old, I expect her toys to be picked up after she is reminded. Not that these are all my kids are responsible for, but just a few examples.

In return, nothing within reason is refused. When it doesn't get done, I come down like a hammer after a warning or two. If they want a game, a couple bucks to go to the movies, etc., they get it. Right now the 13 and 10 year old boys want a quad. I told them to save up the money they got elsewhere (birthday's, etc), take care of things all summer, and we'll talk. So far, so good. If it keeps up, they'll get their quad and get to keep their saving. If things go sour, no dice. We've been doing things this way for a few years and it seems to be working out. I get alot of good comments from other adults on my kids behavior.

 

[imported_Kensai]

I got an allowance till I was 12, then I got a job and got the big bucks (Well, I thought it was alot at the time. )

 

[CPA]

I don't give allowance to my kids. They must work to earn any money and keeping their rooms clean doesn't count. Nor does picking up their toys, bringing down their laundry, or helping with dinner. I pay for things like mowing the lawn (and not always), cleaning the garage, deep cleaning the house, helping with projects.

I make them clean toilets for punishment.

 

[CPA]

Originally posted by: TStep
No allowance. I'm more concerned about instilling responsibility that is not monetarily based. Based on their respective ages, I expect a certain amount of responsibility. For my 13 year old, I expect the grass to be cut at his grandmother's without asking. For my 10 year old, I expect him to empty the garbage when it is full without hesitation. My 6 year old, I expect her toys to be picked up after she is reminded. Not that these are all my kids are responsible for, but just a few examples.

In return, nothing within reason is refused. When it doesn't get done, I come down like a hammer after a warning or two. If they want a game, a couple bucks to go to the movies, etc., they get it. Right now the 13 and 10 year old boys want a quad. I told them to save up the money they got elsewhere (birthday's, etc), take care of things all summer, and we'll talk. So far, so good. If it keeps up, they'll get their quad and get to keep their saving. If things go sour, no dice. We've been doing things this way for a few years and it seems to be working out. I get alot of good comments from other adults on my kids behavior.

I do something similar. My kids get to go to Chuck E Cheeses about once a month, get video games and movies frequently, get taken to the movies and such.

I also have TUGMA accounts for my kids, which have reinvested dividends and monthly contributions. This money is theirs when they hit 18.

 

[bigdog1218]

Originally posted by: gar3555
well "chores" as you call them, ie things you should do everyday anyways, shouldn't be worth any money, they should be done no matter what. Now granted I had a different experience, growing up on a farm, where chores actually meant work, but that is my opinion.

Even though I didn't grow up on a farm, we had the same idea in my house. Work in and around the house was done to help out, not make money. I think you have to teach your kids responsibility and respect at a young age, not bribe them to do work.

 

[TStep]

CPA: Really got his from my mother in a roundabout way. When I was a kid (10 or so), my grandfather who was really active (and only about 50) had quite a few heart attacks and still tried to be active. The entire family was worried that if this continued, we'd loose him. About the same time, I asked for an allowance from my mother. She told me, as long as I would help my grandfather all summer, I would not go without. Been helping my grandfather for the last 25 years or so, and he's still with us today.

 

[dainthomas]

Originally posted by: gar3555
well "chores" as you call them, ie things you should do everyday anyways, shouldn't be worth any money, they should be done no matter what. Now granted I had a different experience, growing up on a farm, where chores actually meant work, but that is my opinion.

Bingo. If they want cash, they can go mow someone else's yard or setup a lemonade stand or whatever. I'm giving 'em room and board, dammit!!

 

[jlee]

Originally posted by: Stefan

Originally posted by: CadetLee
Allowance? I had a job at 11, so I'm biased.

What job was that?

I delivered papers when I was 9 and flyers when I was 10.

Delivering newspapers, actually..did it for four years.

 

[eLiu]

Originally posted by: jspeicher
Give 'em $20/week, and more if they do a bunch of work.

I was given something like 25 cents-$1 a week in elementary school.

In middle it was 1-5 a week, and in high school, it was 5-10 a week. (imagine these values growing w/each grade level). BUT my parents paid for food (well, not counting going otu to lunch w/friends) & clothes (but I was pretty much a $3 walmart shirt kind of guy)

I didn't really have set chores...it was more that if my parents wanted me to do something, I'd go do it. example: mom is tired, doesnt want to cook...so i cook & clean. Sometimes if there was some 'big' chore, I"d get paid extra--like when my mom left plastic containers in the oven while preheating it...they melted and created a freaking HUGE mess. I cleaned it up & got paid quite a bit b/c she was afraid she'd have to buy a new one...or when I fixed some shingles, repaired the washer..

i found that my friends usually got more $$ than me, but I managed to come out of HS w/about $2500 in the bank, having never worked a real job. then that summer after HS I made like $3.5k working at the DOT...doh