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I think children/teens may receive an allowance if they complete chores without being constantly reminded. I like to tie in attitude as well as chores because I feel both are vital to developing good character. I do not like providing an allowance for the sole reason of money management because so many teens and young adults seem to have developed a gimme-gimme attitude. What are your thoughts on this?
Work ethic is important, although I fear it has become less important among younger generations than it once was.
Kids ought be taught if they want something badly enough, they must earn it themselves. This can begin early on in a child's life by allowing them to earn allowance for completion of age appropriate chores.
We never paid for chores.
Doing chores is part of being a family.... chipping in and doing your part without the expectation of being paid for it.
How old are your kids, Co Sign?
My kids are now grown adults. They manage money wonderfully.... even to the extent that they are both homeowners in their 20s (done with their own cash and great credit scores!).
They earned money by volunteering to do things above and beyond their chore list, and by working.
The concept of paying for chores if foreign to me. Nobody pays me to clean the house, cook dinner, and do laundry. Nobody pays my husband to mow the lawn, take out the garbage, and do household repairs. Why on earth would we teach our children they should be paid to be a responsible family member?
They didn't have a chore list. All I cared about is if they did things when asked without griping. As they matured, they automatically did things without being asked, just as my husband and I do.
We never did an allowance either. They received money when needed for activities and such. Sometimes we bought them things they wanted and sometimes we didn't. When they were old enough to work, they worked to buy expensive items themselves. Both children became responsible adults who support themselves.
I think children/teens may receive an allowance if they complete chores without being constantly reminded. I like to tie in attitude as well as chores because I feel both are vital to developing good character. I do not like providing an allowance for the sole reason of money management because so many teens and young adults seem to have developed a gimme-gimme attitude. What are your thoughts on this?
We don't pay our kids for chores. Everyone who lives in the household needs to do their share to keep the household running. They don't get paid for that. We never had issues with the kids refusing to participate in running the household.
We do pay our kids to do extra things that are above and beyond running the household. We have paid them to do powerwashing, washing the cars, landscaping and other things around the house. We do not pay for cleaning the kitchen, taking out the garbage, taking care of the pets and other regularly occurring chores.
When our kids start driving we give them a monthly allowance. We give an allowance so that they can make choices about how to spend money. Otherwise they would constantly be asking for money to go here or there. We give a set amount and they can use it as they see fit. We pay for gas, and their regular expenses (food, clothes). They drive our cars. We allowed our oldest to have a car at school after his freshman year. Having a car has allowed him to have better paying jobs.
Once the kids get to college we pay for tuition, room and board, car insurance, books and travel home. We also helped our oldest son buy some clothes for his summer job. They pay for the rest of their personal expenses. My oldest has had jobs in the summer. He also has a part time job during the school year although he did not have one his freshman year. My middle had a job last summer. He does not have a job at school but he is still a freshman.
We have not had a problem with the kids asking for money while they were at school. The oldest is a junior and has not asked for money outside of what we normally provide. The youngest is a freshman and has not asked for extra money. He reported that he has plenty of money for the rest of the school year (we didn't ask).
We do not give our kids cash for their chores being our kids are still littler but if they do their chores with out constant asking we take them to the store and let them pick something out at a giving amount.
We did not give allowances for chores - we fall into the group that deems regular household chores to be simply part of family life. In general we didn't give allowances at all except for a few years in that awkward stage when they were not quite old enough to work - and that allowance was not tied to chores. We did occasionally allow them to earn money by doing extra stuff around the house as well.
The older I've gotten, I have seen kids do just fine regardless of the allowance for money-management vs allowance for chores. If your kids are "gimme, gimme, gimme" ungrateful type kids, my guess is there is more going on than whether they were "paid for nothing".
I think children/teens may receive an allowance if they complete chores without being constantly reminded. I like to tie in attitude as well as chores because I feel both are vital to developing good character. I do not like providing an allowance for the sole reason of money management because so many teens and young adults seem to have developed a gimme-gimme attitude. What are your thoughts on this?
Yes they should. It will prepare them for a career in government.
They are required to pick up their toys, put away their own clothes, make their beds, clean their mess at the table, etc. There is punishment if these chores don't get done, but no reward for doing them.
We have a second set of chores that are expected to be done every week - clean the bathrooms, empty the dishwasher, feed the dog, dust the furniture. If the kids complete their chores for the week, they get their allowance on Sunday afternoon. (There's a chore chart that lets each kid know what is expected.)
There's a third set of chores that earn them extra money - mopping the floor, washing my car, etc.
We don't buy toys, candy, etc (I do buy lots of books and craft supplies). If they want it, they have to save their money to get it. When we have plans to do something special, like go on vacation, we offer a savings match. For example, we tell them 3 months ahead of time that whatever money they save in that time period we will match on a 1-1 basis, up to X amount. Then that is the total amount they have to spend on souvenirs - there is no point in asking for more.
It works for us. Our children are all pretty good money managers now, and they are good about doing their chores.
I was not paid for chores... it was expected. It's the very early stages of learning what it's like to be a responsible human being. Mommy and Daddy won't always be there to do your laundry, fold your clothes, do the dishes, make food, clean... etc etc.
As a matter of fact, when I finally got a job once I hit 16 my dad asked that I provide him $50 per month to go towards the cable that I had in my bedroom, and my car insurance. I never thought of it as "unfair"... it was the norm for me.
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