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The Allowance Question
Do you give your kids allowance? Did you get it as a child?
My 5-year-old son has discovered money, and he likes what it can buy: Legos, Playmobil warriors, action figures, more Legos.
He doesn’t have much money, and, of course, he doesn’t understand the value of it. For instance, he’s much happier to show off six nickels than he is to show off three quarters.
He never spends it either. In fact, once he said he was going to save it all so he could be rich and live in a hotel, but then he saw a Playmobil catalog and decided he might spend a little so he could buy the Roman ship (I didn’t have the heart to tell him he couldn’t afford the ship).
Since he’s interested in money, I’ve started thinking about allowance. Is he too young to get it? Should he even get it at all?
I don’t remember getting allowance. My parents’ philosophy was that it was the responsibility of everyone in the family to help out at home. I get that, and generally subscribe to that line of thinking.
But I also get the argument that allowance teaches kids about money, and how to manage it (though I think we are some time away from teaching a lesson on money management). And, many say that allowance should not be tied to chores, which I also like, but as cute as my kids are I have a hard time reconciling in my head that they deserve money each week just for being them.
My husband, who received allowance as a kid for doing work around the house, is really impartial on the issue.
A friend of mine has her kids divide their allowance three ways: savings/charity/spending. I like that idea, too, but I also believe there are other ways to teach the lesson of giving.
What do you do at your house? Do your kids get allowance? When did you start giving it to them? Why do they get it? How much?
Natalie appears Sundays on TriangleMom2Mom. Read more about Natalie at her blog A Day at the Park.
Natalie Gott
Natalie is a TriangleMom2Mom featured blogger, appearing every Sunday.
Natalie is a stay-at-home mom in Carrboro to castle- and super hero-loving Guillermo, 5, and puzzle- and big brother-adoring Maya, 2. Natalie was a wire service reporter for nine years, but stopped working after Maya was born in 2006. Most mornings you can now find her at the playgrounds chasing her kids, who frequently are wearing superhero capes. Natalie grew up in Iowa and Peoria, Ill. After college, she lived in St. Louis, Baton Rouge, La.,and Austin, Texas. In 2005, she and her husband moved to North Carolina and she proudly sings every word to the "It's Carrboro" rap. Natalie loves politics, reggae and grocery stores and readily admits she wastes too much time reading celebrity gossip, but just can't stop herself.
Comments
We have never done the allowance thing. Now that the kids are older they babysit. My children have learned some money lessons in different ways. My daughter had over $100 in babysitting money in her purse and for some reason she carried it to school...her purse got stolen. Tough lesson...but I'll bet she never takes a bunch of money to school again.
We do charitable stuff through their membership in the North Carolina State Grange...more hands on than giving money. But I think that has taught them a lot about giving. Plus they see the things my husband and I do for others.
I had a job in high school. My husband and I have talked back and forth about whether this is something we want our kids to do. On the one hand, we want them to learn the responsibility of a job, but on the other, in this economy, I don't want my kid taking a job at Chik-Fil-A away from someone who needs it to feed his/her family.
No answers here...just my own ambivalence about the whole thing.
I don't recall getting an allowance and my kids, 7 and 9, don't either. I agree that lessons in money management seem like a good idea but they can't afford much with a couple of bucks a week and saving it for "big" items requires too much mastery of delayed gratification. I also agree that chores should be expected as part of a family and just giving them the cash seems silly. I don't really have any answers either.
We give our kids a weekly allowance for spending money, but it isn't necessarily a payment for doing chores. They are expected to save a portion, give a portion for church and they can spend the rest. They get $5 and we started it at age 5. It has dramatically reduced the "I wants" in our house because when they want something, we figure out how many weeks allowance it will cost them and then they decide if it is worth it. I really think that it has given them a good understanding of money and the consequences of spending vs saving.
Although I've never believed in tying payment to chores, I did think they needed to learn about money and we briefly experimented with allowance. But it didn't go well for different reasons, and we realized it wasn't neccessary. Between birthday money, tooth fairy money, and now babysitting and petsitting money, they're learning how to budget. We take care of their "needs" and I'm okay with them not getting alot of "wants" unless it's a special occassion or with money they've earned. I think that -in and of itself -is an important lesson.