Should You Give Kids an Allowance?
Giving kids an allowance can teach them many important lessons, but only if you do it right.
Cherylyn Feierabend
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Should You Give Kids an Allowance?
When my brothers and I were kids, I’d like to think we didn’t ask for much. My parents were pretty generous anyway. We would each get the one big thing we’d ask for on our birthdays. Our parents took us camping, fishing, and on tons of vacations, and we were able to play on all the sports teams we wanted to–even though, I now know, the uniforms and equipment cost a bundle. So, the fact that we didn’t get allowances as kids doesn’t bother me. I don’t think I cared much about it back then either, since I always had everything I needed. There was a time when my mom put five quarters on each of our dressers. For each day that our room was messy, she’d take away a quarter. So basically, we were losing 25 cents per day when we let our rooms remain messy. That didn’t last long, I think, because we didn’t value the allowance. I’d love to see some improvements around my home and have been considering how I can use allowance to my kids’ and my own benefit.
What’s the Best Way to Give Kids an Allowance?
In order for the allowance to be attractive to kids, you have to give them some type of real goal or incentive. Let’s assume that my daughter is asking for a new video game. The game costs approximately fifty dollars. When we are all done swallowing the cost of the latest video game, we can break this down. If my daughter can earn five dollars a week for ten weeks, she’ll have just about enough to buy her game, especially if it’s on sale. If I were to tell my daughter that I’ll give her five dollars a week if she does specific chores or extra work around the house, she may or may not decide to do it. If she knows that doing these things for ten weeks will earn her enough money to buy her coveted video game, chances are she’ll be much more inclined to get things done. It also gives me the power of reminding her that if she doesn’t get paid this week, she’ll have to wait even longer to get her video game. At which point I refer to the picture on her star chart of the game we printed out and hung up as further incentive.
Discuss the Allowance Arrangement Beforehand
Once you know what incentives you have to offer, you can start bargaining. Sit down as a family and discuss what can be done to make things better for everyone. Have a list of the things you’d like to see improved and some of the incentives you are willing to put on the table. Printing out pictures is a great way to get your point across. You can also make up daily or weekly charts beforehand. It’s useful to have visual aids, especially where money is involved. You can even offer to simply put stickers on the chart, and when the chart reaches a certain number of stickers, you’ll buy the item in question. But for the purpose of this week’s topic, I’m recommending that you offer a monetary allowance for a couple different reasons. The first reason is that if your child changes her mind about what she’d like to spend her earnings on, she’s allowed to do so. The second reason is that this entire routine is designed to teach your child about how money works, and how it’s earned, whether by her, or by you. You have to go to work to earn this money; therefore, she’s going to have to do some work to earn it as well. Once you’ve all agreed on your arrangement, you can even draw up an in-home contract for everyone to sign.
Be Consistent
Sometimes kids forget. Having the ability to remind them by showing them their signature on a contract gives you certain leverage, but don’t be surprised when they use it on you later! If you agreed to pay your child five dollars every Friday if she keeps her room clean, does her homework without being told, and helps with dinner clean-up, and she keeps her end of the deal, you need to be prepared to pay up on Friday. You may want to have a ready supply of money on hand for when payday arrives. You’ll also need to be consistent with the plan when your child hasn’t earned her keep. Whether you do this by deduction or by enforcing a strict “no-pay” rule will depend on your original arrangement, but don’t feel guilty and pay her if she hasn’t fulfilled the requirements. I highly recommend that you keep a daily record and base payment on days, and not entire weeks, because if your child knows by Tuesday that she isn’t getting paid for the week, you aren’t likely to see any improvement as the week goes on. It’s better to deduct for a certain day or chore, than to skip payment altogether in the grand scheme of things.
Allowances Teach Kids About Money
The goal of the allowance process, at least in my house, is to teach the children about the meaning of money. It will help them to understand how money is earned, how to count it, and why it’s important to do what’s expected of you in order to earn extra special things in your life. It also helps children to understand how parents work hard to provide for the entire family. All in all, an allowance can be fun and educational for everyone. It’s also nice in situations when you are at the store and your child asks, “Can I have that?” You have a better response now, “Sure, honey, we can add that to the list of things you’d like to buy with your allowance!”
And finally, before you go, I’d like to mention one more time how honored I am to be nominated in SheKnows.com’s Parents Choice Awards. Voting closes on September 15. You can vote at https://sheknows.com. Mighty Mommy is listed in the “Audio” section under voting. It only takes a couple minutes and I’d truly appreciate your support.
https://www.sheknows.com/surveys/2010-sheknows-best-parenting-awards
That’s it for now. Thanks for listening.
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Girl with Dollar image courtesy of Shutterstock