http://bringmethenews.com/2015/07/16/the-average-kid-is-making-35-a-week-in-allowance-survey-says/

$35 dollars a week?!? that seems really high to me. So, the question to all the parents out there, do you give allowances? how much?

My kids get a couple bucks per week and they're expected to do chores because they are part of the family, not for monetary gain.

I used to give my kid $10.

We never promoted a set allowance with our sons. We weren't ungenerous with them but the concept of an "allowance" seemed counter to our aims in rearing them. Assigned household chores were never tied to set compensation. There is time enough for them to be gainfully employed and earn a proper salary.

At 33 and 30 they turned out alright despite our notions on childrearing.

so you are claiming that you have not given an arbitrary sum of money to the kids for doing nothing. You may have killed any chance of the being proper drains on society. If only the government felt the same way.

I have struggled with this as well. By the time I figure it out, they will be out of the house. When we tried an allowance, it just didn't seem to work for us. There are some chores that have to be done because we live here and have pride in our surroundings. I didn't want to equate these chores with a paycheck, but then none of us get a set check just for existence either. I didn't want to tie the allowance to the chores. But then withholding an allowance seemed to be a great way to discipline for non-chores. So, they went away....just because the hubs and I couldn't come up with a plan that worked for us.

That said, we do keep a certain chore list (with compensation attached) for those instances when the kids are looking for extra cash. Chores that need to get done and I might as well hire my kids!

We give our $10 every two weeks. They are expected to do chores around the house not tied to the allowance. Mom has taken away the allowance if they haven't done their chores. They can earn extra by doing jobs out of the norm for them, like if they help when I allow the weed trees to get too big. We don't buy them non essential things either, except birthdays and Christmas. They have to save their allowance to get something they want.

Kiddo is expected to do chores around the house. The reward is that she gets to keep using the router.

But before we went on vacation I told her that I would pay per chore but that she had to write down the chores each day and at the end of the week we would settle up, in order to earn extra money. It looked something like this, per day:

Muck bunny hutch - $0.50
Clean up dog poo in yard - $0.50
Unload dishes - $0.50
Get the mail at the end of the drive - $0.10
Clean room (good for one time per week) - up to a $1.00
Vacuum living room - $0.50
Clean mirrors in all bathrooms - $0.50
Brush dog - $0.50

She could earn as much or as little as she wanted. It was a special for the trip we took only. She did not get paid for feeding the animals, because that's expected. At the end of each day, we reviewed what she did. And we settled at week end.

This morning, I wrote her a chore list, with many of the same chores above. Her payment is the continued use of the nice things we get her.

The reward is that she gets to keep using the router.

she is a woodworker?

My parents gave me tons of chores, and no allowance. They said that in exchange if there was anything I needed, they would get it for me. Turned out we had vastly different ideas of "need". I "needed" video games, but their version of "need" was food and clothing.

Guess that's what happens when you're the kid of people that grew up in farm lives. You work because work needs to get done. Certainly taught me to do everything I can and expect nothing in exchange, which definitely prepared me for a life in compliance!

We did not offer an allowance to our Son either. He had a set or chores he was expected to do as part of the family. If he wanted spending money he was encouraged to seek out yard work, pet sitting, or baby sitting opportunities in the neighborhood and later a job. It did not work as well as we'd hoped as he rarely did but we were not about to give him money when he lacked the motivation to work for it himself. He is in college now and starting to figure it out.

My kids got a couple dollars every pay day.
They both started working at 15 to get more spending money. Funny thing is, those things they had to have when I was buying them were not worth the hours they had to work to buy them. They ended up being pretty good savers!

No allowance, they seem to be turning out OK.

We don't do allowances. The boys are expected to help out around the house as part of the family. We do offer extra money for abnormal chores like helping in the garden or mowing grandma's lawn. The only weekly treat they get is a trip to the gas station for snacks on Thursdays. The older they get, the more they're starting to recognize the value of money and what it takes to get the things they need and want.

No truer statement!

no allowance...but they have free room and board, clothes, food, electricity, etc.

We've never done a set allowance for our son either. He helps around the house because he lives there and it is expected of him. We have him keep a "job list" of things he does that are extra, such as seasonal yard work, etc. We normally wait until there is a trip or something special coming up, and settle up then.

We do buy him some "wants" occasinally since he doesn't get a regular allowance, but he has never been a kid who asks for a lot of stuff so it doesn't get out of hand. As he has gotten older, he definitely has learned what it takes to pay for things and is pretty hesitant to buy if he's using his own money!

The old proverb: "Train up a child in the way he should go ..." really works if one starts while their children are very young and is diligent to the twin tasks of disciplining and training them.

Rearing children takes work and isn't easy.

Hardest job you will ever have and there is no training!

An allowance is a good way to teach kids about money management. I don't see the harm in a few dollars, but $35 is a joke.

I had a neighbor who paid their daughter NOT to work. She was so busy with school and extracurricular activities, that they never got to see her. So they paid her what she would have earned working to stay at home. I tried to get them to adopt me

6 daughters, do the math. I generally end up shelling out $50 or so dollars each week, depending on what chores they have completed (dollar amounts are assigned to each) during the week. Plus I pay for upkeep, gas, and insurance on 3 cars the older ones use. One daughter has a job at Dunkin Donuts, so she is off the allowance chart. We homeschool, so she brings in about $800 or so a month working close to full time (and truth be told, she is now buying her own gas). I'm so proud of her...

My daughter pays me for her phone line and has to pay me if I find an empty soda bottle under the couch so I do give her ways to earn money.

I don't do allowance. I really hate the word "chores" as well. I've tried to raise my daughter as independent as possible, I've tried not to spoil (but it's hard with an only child and she's such a great kid). She's been packing and making (some - most) of her lunch since she was in kindergarten or first grade. She's 10, her morning routine is that she gets up, gets her breakfast, packs her lunch, watches TV, get's her stuff for school or summer camp, whatever, helps me (get's my water for work and by breakfast bar...ok I am spoiled in the morning) and she does this all because I've just raised her that way. We go out of our way to support the things she wants to do (getting her blackbelt in karate, which is a lot of our time and money), golf lessons (and a beautiful set of Callaway clubs), new snow skis ever couple of years and family monthly ski trips. We recently adopted a 6 yo German Shepherd, she feeds, grooms, picks up his giant poop, we set up the rules, she wanted the dog, those were the conditions and she's never once even had to be asked. She helps around the house when we need it, but no set "chores" or "allowance". Even then, any money she gets for birthdays, etc, she saves. She wanted a loft bed and thought Santa could just bring it. After telling her that it wasn't fair to ask Santa to bring something so expensive, she saved every penny she got, and amassed $600 toward it over 2 years. Her plan, ask Santa for the loft bed and leave the $600 under the tree to help so that he'd have plenty for other kids. Of course when Christmas came, we couldn't take her money and she got the loft bed from Santa. Maybe that's spoiling her, idk, but she's just a great kid.

Ok, sorry, that was probably just a giant tribute to my daughter, but I couldn't help it.

That's OK, It. You have a right to be proud.

Last summer, I paid my daughter with a shaved ice treat from Bahama Buck's once a week to get her chores done. This summer she is supposed to get something else but so far she hasn't brought it up. Shhh.....

At $35 per week, I would be charging them room and board.