Kids each get $1.00 allowance each week and are thrilled with the amount so we will be keeping it at that price for as long as we can! We have Sunday morning family meetings and that is when we give them their allowance and they choose what their chores will be for the week. Allowance in NOT tied to chores. I read that you have to decide what you want them to get out of an allowance, learning that working = money or how to understand and use money wisely. We choose the second option. They each have a jar they keep their spending money in. We do still fork out a few items for them here and there.. crafts, books etc, but when they see an item in target that they HAVE to have, we say “you can buy it but it’s coming out of your money not ours”. They really do think about their choices now and will ask “how much money do I have?”, you can see the wheels turning and some days they make the purchase and other times they pass!

Susan, I love your stories about your brother and about your brochure! Impressive.

For my part, I got an allowance and saved most of it every week, but one day I decided I “needed” more money, so I wrote and designed a three-panel brochure on the computer about why I deserved it and showed it to my parents. I was only asked for, maybe, an extra $.50/week, so they agreed (also because I’d taken the time to write about it). Thus began a career in copywriting!

I don’t think you should pay a child to do household chores though I do think some kind of allowance is in order. But my idea of an allowance, which we will start with my daughter when she turns ten this summer, is $1/week at most!

The chore thing is important. You find age-appropriate tasks and you make sure they get into a rhythm of doing them. It may take longer to get them to do it than to do the chore yourself but it’s important to stick with it.

My 5-year-old son takes the clean laundry out of the dryer and onto the bed, and advances the wet laundry to the dryer and turns the dryer on. He also takes out the compost when it’s his turn. I don’t think he has enough chores, frankly, and he sometimes balks about doing them, but I see since we’ve started this system (only a few months ago) that it makes his feel capable and responsible and like he’s part of our family team.

Now? No allowance. No paid chores. Chores are an expectation of living under a roof with food and indoor plumbing. However, I maintain a list of “jobs” that are beyond usual chore obligations (washing windows, washing car…) that they can do if they need to earn money. It’s a tough topic.