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My Thoughts on Children's Allowances & Its Relationship to Household ChoresApr 24 '01 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line An allowance should not be linked to a child's chores, but should be based on a child's age for compensation.
Ever since my child has understood the concept of allowance, I have given him at least $1 per year of their life as a bi-monthly allowance. In other words, when my son turned seven years old, he received $7 every two weeks or $14 a month. This increased every year on their birthday until my oldest son entered his sophomore year in high school. At that point, I realized with football practice and other things that he would need to have a bit more money. So now, I give him $40 every two weeks for cold drinks, spending money for game, and other personal expenses. Allowances were not referred to in my home as compensation for work performed by my child. My children have certain chores around the home and they are not compensated for those actions. For instance, both of my children now do their own laundry. They are also expected to keep their rooms straight and assist with kitchen or bathroom details as needed. They are also expected to help get the groceries out of the car and bring them up to the second floor of our apartment, take out the garbage, and other activities. One of the activities that many parents take for granted with their older children, I do compensate for with mine and that is in reference to babysitting younger siblings. When my oldest son sits for his younger brother, I pay him the current rate just as I would if I would hire an outside sitter. ($5 an hour) With this, my oldest son is able to feel as though he is not being taken advantage of and earns some spending money. Even though my oldest son is now sixteen years old, he has found it to be a great challenge to get a job. He has a very heavy load of classes this year as well as outside activities such as football and weightlifting. Because of this, I do try to make sure that he does have even a bit more extra other than his allowance during special times at school. He is a rather good money manager though and does seem to be able to balance out his money where he can usually purchase a couple of new videos of a computer game each month if he saves on cold drinks. Many parents probably would differ with me concerning my philosophy of allowances, but I truly believe that what I have devised works well with my children. They appear to be more money conscious and more willing to help around the house. Each time they do their chores it is with the understanding that this is to help them become a better person and more responsible adult. My belief is that to pay children for household duties is a grave mistake. I truly believe that if a child is compensated for household chores that when they are independent adults that they will be less likely to perform those chores in the future. I may be incorrect on this assumption, but this is what I truly believe. I believe that if a child learns how to take care of things around the home including his own room and property that he will learn a greater sense of pride and responsibility on their own. Therefore, I believe that it is appropriate that I give my child an allowance for their own spending money without it being linked to a reward system of performing household activities.  |
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