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survey...how much allowance for an 8 year old?

BethAnne's picture

We are keen to start giving SD8 an allowance when the new school year starts. She has just grasped money denominations and adding it up adequately and so we think it is time she had some to spend so that she can start realizing what it is for and how much things cost.

We were thinking $2.50 a week. To me that sounds reasonable, though possibly slightly on the high side.

What do you all think?

BethAnne's picture

She doesn't have chores right now but my husband wants to start her with some chores when she stats to get the allowance.

Personally I don't like linking chores to payment as a system because I think everyone should contribute to the house anyway and payment isn't necessary. I don't want to be negotiating to pay a child money to do things that they should just do when asked.

BethAnne's picture

She does contribute to the household, but she does stuff when she is asked and when needed rather than having a set schedule of chores. As I said, my husband is keen to set up chores for her as well as the allowance but they won't be directly linked.

BethAnne's picture

Oh the old you don't know shit until you're a parent argument... I thought we were beyond that on this forum?

I think your system sounds great and I'm sure your kids learnt a lot from it and I can see it working for lots different people. But it isn't the only way to raise children and teach the same skills and have similar outcomes. I prefer a different method.

BethAnne's picture

Did you raise entitled children? How would you know how to raise entitled children if your's are not entitled?

You know one method of raising children that worked for you in your house. I was raised differently and know a different method that raised equally well rounded non-entitled adults.

Entitlement comes from a larger attitude than just whether or not a child does chores or what systems a home has in place for allowances.

BethAnne's picture

You know ONE way to not raise entitled children and as many parents there are that raise un-entitled children there are as many methods to achieve that. My parents also raised un-entitled children but used a different method. You are not wrong, I am not wrong. We just experienced different things to get to the same point.

I love how all of a sudden now you accept that we can use our own childhood experiences and our common sense to know what to do and it isn't necessary to have raised 5 children to adulthood in order to be able to have a valid opinion.

BethAnne's picture

Oh, and I asked the question because I was interested to hear the answers. I don't know many families with kids of similar ages to compare with.

BethAnne's picture

I see an allowance as a useful tool to help learn about money and money management. It is not bribery, we are not asking for anything in return. Although exceptionally bad behavior may result in no allowance for a while.

BethAnne's picture

You are looking for a different outcome from the giving of the allowance from that which we are looking for. You are looking to instill a work ethic (which can be taught in different ways other than through being payed for jobs at home) while we are looking to teach money skills.

WalkOnBy's picture

BethAnne - kids view money they get from dad and SM and is not connected to anything like chores or work far differently than they do that which they actually earn.

Teaching money skills is much more than how much things cost and how much to purchase a particular thing. That's what math class is for, imho.

BethAnne's picture

Sure, and I wouldn't disagree with you that money earnt feels different and is treated differently to money given. And she will learn that in due course.

We are on a multistep process towards good money skills with my SD. She has ticked off step one. She knows what different coins/notes are and can add them up. Step two that we want to go into next is teaching her why we have money and what it is for and how much things cost and having the practical experience of buying things with money and getting change etc. Step three will be deciding between different things that she wants and realizing that she can't have everything so she will have to decide what she values more. Step four will be learning to save and the satisfaction in getting something that you have saved up for. There will be many more steps after this, we certainly don't intend to stop there, but we do want to START somewhere.

Disneyfan's picture

Many of us were given an allowance when we were growing up and we still have a great work ethic, responsibility and appreciation.

I don't like the idea to tying chores to an allowance. I think it gives kids the idea that chores are optional. You have chores because you are a member of the family. Members of the household all pitch in to keep the home clean because it's the right thing to do.

Paying for chores encourages kids not to really help out unless they want something.

When my son was 8, his allowance was $10 a week.

Disneyfan's picture

Extra snacks at the movies
Arcades
Extra spending money when he went on trips with school or summer camp.
Extra spending money when we went in vacation

Ninji's picture

My Skids (9 and 11yrs old) get $10 a month. They rarely spend it. They don't need anything.

BethAnne's picture

So it sounds like we are on the right track then with $2.50 a week. We are a bit worried that she won't spend it either, as she has had no interest in spending the little money that she has had so far really. We are going to try to actively look for opportunities for her to spend it at first to get the idea in her head as to how she can spend it and why she would want to.

Ninji's picture

I set up child accounts with my bank. They received their own debt card with pin numbers. They love it. AND they aren't taking cash to BM's house. She always takes it to "hold" for them and they never get it back.

BethAnne's picture

That does sound like a good idea for older children. SD is only just getting the concept of money at all and I think introducing debit cards could be a bit abstract at first for her right now. If she starts to save larger amounts though a savings account might not be a bad idea.

BethAnne's picture

I fudge her age a little on here for privacy reasons. In my opinion she is behind what I would expect at her age, but she is inline with what the schools teach here. They learnt about coins and denominations and adding them up last school year, and touched a little on getting change. We feel now is time for her to learn how to spend money and how the whole process works.

BethAnne's picture

I don't have to get paid to have a good work ethic and I don't have to pay a child to teach them work ethics. Working hard at school and having pride in doing good work, builds work ethic. Doing chores well and taking pride in doing them is showing work ethic. Giving time to others and doing a good job for them does not require payment. Making sure to go to school on time and attending school when feeling a little under the weather (not genuinely ill) all build work ethic. Taking pride in appearance at school and adhering to dress codes builds work ethic.

Demonstrating these skills in my own and husbands lives also sets good role models for my SD.

I could argue with you that conversely by paying children to do tasks at home for the family you are encouraging an entitlement culture where they expect payment for any of their time devoted to helping others even within their family. I think that families should help each other out where they can and don't demand payment. I am not saying that I think that paying children to do tasks is appalling and I know many people do it, just that it isn't how I want to do things and that SD won't automatically become entitled and lack work ethic because she gets an allowance that is not linked to completing certain tasks.

thinkthrice's picture

I'm not in the "allowance teaches money management" camp. My bios had chores--no allowance. Any money they made was made outside the house. They can learn money management on money they've earned--outside the household. Chores are a part of being in a family unit; JMO.

BethAnne's picture

If anyone has some numbers for how much money they give kids around the age of 8, I'd be grateful. I could debate allowances etc all day long, but I was more interested in learning how much sounds reasonable and what the going rate is these days. When I was a kid we got 10c per year of age up until we were 10, that seems a bit out of touch nowadays and I'd struggle to find anything for 80c for SD to buy.

WalkOnBy's picture

She's 8. She doesn't need anything not already provided by her parents. $2.00 a week is good, I guess.

BethAnne's picture

I didn't ask whether to give SD an allowance or not, or what system to set up. You are right, I am not really interested in your ideas on that and don't intend to do anything differently to what we have decided, but being polite I did play along with your questions.

Read my OP and thread title again. I asked, how much allowance to give her and what others give their children of similar ages.

BethAnne's picture

Selective quoting will win many an argument.

"We were thinking $2.50 a week. To me that sounds reasonable, though possibly slightly on the high side.
What do you all think?"

Besides which I haven't criticized anyone's thoughts or asked anyone to stop contributing, I have merely been explaining my position and reasoning. I knew that the questions about chores would come up because it seems to be very common in this country to link the two. I was happy to explain my position, as I did and appreciate hearing what others have set up. Jasper wants me to subscribe to her method of parenting and I understand that people get caught up in these types of debates but I am happy with the methods that we plan to use and don't plan on doing things differently. If she isn't satisfied that she can't change my mind on an issue I didn't directly ask for advice on that is not my problem.

If I wasn't clear in my first post, I have since been trying to direct the discussion back to get the answers that I was after which is a $ amount that children of similar age receive. I appreciated your contribution to that WalkOnBy.

WalkOnBy's picture

...

WalkOnBy's picture

"We were thinking $2.50 a week. To me that sounds reasonable, though possibly slightly on the high side.
What do you all think?"

okay, and we still gave you our thoughts. Many of us thought that giving a child an allowance with nothing to do for it is not a good idea. You just didn't like our thoughts. Fair enough.

Good luck.

Willow2010's picture

$5.00 a week if she does HER regular chores. (Her bedroom, cleaning up after herself ect.)

$10.00 a week if she goes above and beyond regular chores. (Dusting common areas, sweeping mopping ect)

BethAnne's picture

Thanks, do you have kids this age? What do they do with the money? Do they tend to save it all? Do they purchase all non essentials outside of birthdays/Christmases etc? I'm just curious as it seems a lot more than we were thinking. But then stuff is expensive these days.

Willow2010's picture

I only gave my kids an allowance off and on. They never really had too many chores anyway. Their main goal was to get good grades not keep my house spotless. lol. (Yes...I know a lot of step parents HERE do not think this way).

If they wanted something at 8 years old, I would have bought it if I wanted too. If they wnated candy, I got it IF I wanted to. If I did not want them to have candy, I just did not buy it. Now if they wanted something big (like a 200 dollar game and they did not want to wait for Christmas or bdays, then they got chores out the wazoo till they saved up for it.)

BethAnne's picture

Yes, up until now we just bought SD what she wanted, if we felt it was reasonable (she hears "no" the vast majority of the times she asks for things). She is like any kid she "wants" a lot of things (typically when we walk past them in the store) but because she is used to hearing "no" she doesn't generally whine about it if she doesn't get anything. But she doesn't ask for big ticket items on a sustained basis yet (apart from a puppy...not happening!). As she gets older I'm sure this will change. Not having TV and her not being subjected to commercials on a daily basis, probably helps curb her consumerism!

We are going to have to change our ways a little and let her pay for things when she wants them (if they are appropriate) or encourage her to save for them rather than buying the occasional treats ourselves.

BethAnne's picture

What I really wanted to find out was a $ amount for a child of 8. If you can provide me with that we can debate it. I have had others who have given me what they think, and where they differ a lot from what I was thinking I have asked for further clarification to see if I am not on the right track or if I need to modify what we were thinking.

I understand that you think that giving a child a $ amount without being linked to tasks is irresponsible and that is fine. I do not intend to be condescending in my replies, I apologize if I came across that way. If I have been passive aggressive I am sorry, I felt provoked by your continual attacks and assertions that allowances for no chores automatically lead to entitlement, so I tried to explain my position. Your posts while I agree related, are not to do with what I intended to be the theme of this thread. I have tried to clarify what I want to find out subsequently.

hereiam's picture

I think $2.50 a week sounds fine, you can always adjust it as necessary once you see how responsible she is or isn't with it.

BethAnne's picture

Thanks, that's a good point. I don't want to start too high as I would rather move up than down with the amount. Though I was concerned that if it is too low, she won't really be able to buy anything with it and I want her to be challenged with the thought that she could buy a cheaper item now or a nicer, more expensive item in a couple of weeks and decide what she wants to do for herself. I was thinking that with $2.50 she can get a couple of things at the dollar store or maybe an ice cream or comic book. If she wants something bigger she can learn to save for it.

Indigo's picture

Gave BS .25 for "every year he was alive," actually I think we phrased it better. So, at 8 yrs, he got $2.00. Little bit of money to learn the value. Some to save. Some to spend. Some for others/nonprofit. Some to put towards Christmas gifts. Extra money was earned by extra tasks.

BethAnne's picture

When I was a kid we got 10c for each year of life, I like the system because it has an automatic inflation built in with age.

z3girl's picture

I never had an allowance growing up, but I did want extra money. I was the youngest, and always wanted to be able to buy Christmas presents for everyone since they all bought me so much. By the time I was 8, I was skipping lunch in school and saving the dollar instead. I also used to get the odd dollar here and there by helping my dad with his business (helping load a truck with boxes). I also used to make little crafty things like bracelets and sell them to my family for $1 a piece. I played soccer as well, and my father used to pay me $1 per goal. I'll never forget the game I scored 8 goals lol.

My mother did not believe in allowance for the same reason many here do not. My parents also didn't have much money to spare.

I'm not sure I will give my sons an allowance. I have a star chart for them to help with their behavior (they are 4,3, and 6 months) Maybe the star chart will morph into earning extra money. I like Echo's system. Taxing their income is hysterical! Too bad adult taxes aren't like that.

My 4 and 3 year olds already love to grab any loose change we give them and put them in their piggy banks. They say they are saving up for special toys. I can't imagine they wouldn't have grasped the concept of saving long before 8 years old!

twoviewpoints's picture

Just out of curiosity, may I ask how you and Dad will explain this whole 'allowance' thing to the child? I understand you want to use it as a teaching/learning experience and do not want the 'allowance' tied to chores. I get that part of your plan. My question is more along the lines of what SD will be told. Where from and why the money is being issued and why the experience will be called her 'allowance'.

I'm not questioning the system you've decided to use vs a more commonly thought of earned pay for household tasks. I'm just interested how the exercise will be presented to SD.

BethAnne's picture

Ooh I don't know, good question. Probably along the lines of, "now that you are good at adding up money we want to give you an allowance so that you can buy things for yourself if you want them. You will get X amount every week and you are responsible for looking after it and can choose what you want to do with it". (Obviously we will monitor that she buys age appropriate things with it).

Is there a better way to phrase it?

onthefence2's picture

I've done both allowance and money for work. I would only do allowance IF you also stop buying little things here and there. If they want a pack of gum at the store...it comes out of THEIR money. They want that cute pair of socks just like their friend has? THEY pay for it. If they want to go roller skating, it comes out of their money. Allowance is just another way of making the kid responsible for all the things Mom/Dad usually pay for. It actually helps Mom/Dad save money! My kids have "free" chores and they also have paid jobs.

BethAnne's picture

This is what we were thinking of doing. We do need to keep ourselves in check to make sure that we don't buy those small purchases for her that we have done up until now, but encourage her to use her own money.