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Obviously, this only applies to those parents who gave their kids an allowance in the first place. How old were your kids when you stopped giving them an allowance?
Our situation is that we have been giving each of our two kids an allowance since kindergarten. They are now 14 and 12 years old. I don't want to dole out the money for the rest of their lives, but on the other hand, if they're not working, how else will they earn money? My 14 YO has talked about getting a part time job, but we've got several family vacations coming up this summer, plus he's got a couple of camps that he wants to do that he'll be aging out of soon, so he wants to do them while he still can. So, this coming summer isn't looking good for employment.
Should I stop the allowance at age 16, when it might be easier to find a job? Age 18, when they become adults? Sooner than that?
Obviously, this only applies to those parents who gave their kids an allowance in the first place. How old were your kids when you stopped giving them an allowance?
Our situation is that we have been giving each of our two kids an allowance since kindergarten. They are now 14 and 12 years old. I don't want to dole out the money for the rest of their lives, but on the other hand, if they're not working, how else will they earn money? My 14 YO has talked about getting a part time job, but we've got several family vacations coming up this summer, plus he's got a couple of camps that he wants to do that he'll be aging out of soon, so he wants to do them while he still can. So, this coming summer isn't looking good for employment.
Should I stop the allowance at age 16, when it might be easier to find a job? Age 18, when they become adults? Sooner than that?
Well, I think when they get older it just changes. We dont give our 17 year old cash in hand every week or anything as an allowance. But he has a job and school and a car. We give him money to eat dinner when he works a 8 or more hour shift at work. We put gas in his car if for some reason he has a good reason to not have his own money for it. We pay his phone bill. I have a sneaky suspicion that when he turns 18 he will still need financial help until hes really on his feet. Then the help gets larger but way less often like paying for college or helping with a down payment or anything else your child really needs.
I dont know about where you are but in NJ where we are you pay child support until 19 or 21 if they are in school. Its the law. So if you think of it as helping your kid the bare minimum, when they graduate seems like a good time. But I think allowance kind of phases out as they spend less time at home.
Certainly not before they get an actual job which our son didnt have until he could get himself to and from.
We stopped when she got her first job in high school at 16 years old. She was earning more than her allowance. She still had to do her chores at home, though. That's just part of being a contributing member of the household.
We never gave them a set allowance but we did give them money to get takeout food and other various things. In return they helped out around the house and the yard as needed.
Once they got their first jobs in HS, they started to pay for their own gas, haircuts, snacks, takeout, etc. If they go on a road trip they pay for their own hotel, meals and gas.
They help out around the house somewhat but they both have such busy schedules these days that they don't have time to do a lot of chores. They are busy with school, studying, work, extracurricular activities and, of course, their social lives.
I have two teen daughter's ages 17 and 14 and they both get an allowance. They have set chores that they need to complete every week to earn their allowance. They get paid once a month. For every chore they complete they get a set dollar amount.
I will stop doing an allowance when they move out and go to college. My 17 year old does not have a job because she has a 3 week summer camp at the local University, and then a 2 week vacation with our family, and in between those two things she can't really find a normal job that would allow for those large absences. She does babysit and pet sit for extra money.
I stopped getting an 'allowance' when I was seven years old. I got a paper route to make money. I turned that into four routes (three different papers, one paper had an evening edition as well as the morning edition), plus I sold greeting cards and flower and vegetable seeds.
I got a full time job when I was twelve, at that point, I had to buy all of my own clothes. I left home when I was fifteen, bought my first car and was self-supporting, splitting rent on an apartment with a roommate. I stayed in school, had enough credits to graduate at 16 but lacked a single required English class so I didn't graduate until I was 17. After spending part of the Summer traveling with a carnival, I enlisted in the Army where I received an in-service nomination to West Point.
Kids are being coddled far too much these days, to their detriment, and the detriment of the country.
Obviously, this only applies to those parents who gave their kids an allowance in the first place. How old were your kids when you stopped giving them an allowance?
Our situation is that we have been giving each of our two kids an allowance since kindergarten. They are now 14 and 12 years old. I don't want to dole out the money for the rest of their lives, but on the other hand, if they're not working, how else will they earn money? My 14 YO has talked about getting a part time job, but we've got several family vacations coming up this summer, plus he's got a couple of camps that he wants to do that he'll be aging out of soon, so he wants to do them while he still can. So, this coming summer isn't looking good for employment.
Should I stop the allowance at age 16, when it might be easier to find a job? Age 18, when they become adults? Sooner than that?
My wife and I have different opinions, but i had a "rougher" upbringing than she did. I was working at 14 and paying most of my expenses through HS and College.
In my opinion, the allowance gets stopped once the kids can go out and get jobs. Doesn't have to be anything fancy, but they need to start working and having responsibility for their expenses. If they want a cell-phone, i expect them to cover their share of the bill. If they want to start driving, i expect them to cover insurance costs and gas. If they want to go to the movies, they will need their money. I will still support them in terms of food/clothing/schooling/housing up until they graduate college (if they choose to go) but i'm certainly not going to finance their lifestyle beyond the basics. If they have aspirations of a nice car, and fancy clothes, then they should use that as motivation to advance themselves, and not rely on me. If they can't focus on homework and work a small part-time job at the same time, what are they going to do when they have a career and deadlines and are trying to juggle home life, kids, and other stress that is a normal part of life.
The safety net will always be there for them, but my goal is to get them independent and advancing themselves without me having to push them.
Of course my wife will come in now and tell them they can live at home until they are 35 as long as they take the trash out once in a while.
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