Thread: Do/Did you give your child an allowance?

Yes or No

I don't. I will buy them a small toy ($1 - $5) every once in a while (not as often as I used to) but thats about it.

We tried giving our oldest son an allowance in the past if he kept his room clean, took out the trash and helped out with other things around the house, without a fight and argument but it didn't last long. One day tops. He's lazy.

He asked me for an allowance again today and I told him what all he would have to do to get it and he just looked at me like What does he expect, that he should get it for just living here and doing nothing all day?

I have 2 kids, I just gave them their allowances, it wasn't tied to their chores.

When I was growing up, my mom put up a chart that listed the chores and how much they paid. We (9 kids) would come home, do whatever chores we felt like doing, then initial the box for that chore. On payday she would check the chart and give everyone the amount they had coming.

Everything got done every day and you weren't tied down to doing the same chore. we didn't get a whole lot of money, but we did get something.

I never got an allowance as a kid but I gave mine one dollar a week but I didn't make them do chores. I also paid for good report cards. One dollar for a C-two for a B- and five for A's. Needless to say my daughter always got straight A's. She broke me lol My son did well to get C's. He just didn't have the drive my daughter had.

Originally Posted by Patchouli

I don't give an allowance but I do buy my son something when we go out. He loves dollar stores and if we go to the movies I give him a couple of dollars for the video games and things like that but I don't just hand over cash.

You sound like me. Thats how we do things too. I do offer money for good grades too.

We had to do things and never got paid in cash for them. Every once in a while we would get a dollar or two to spend at the local gameroom or get a new little cheap toy, but that was about it.

DH says that a kid mowing the lawn, taking out the trash and cleaning their rooms shouldn't be paid because its something they should be doing anyway. Thats how he was raised too. I kind of agree but if I can get them to do those things without a fight, then I think its worth a few dollars once a week or every two weeks. Gives them a little something to work better for.

I've thought about the chart thing. Like make a list of stuff and then he can pick what he wants to do and each thing will be worth a different amount, but not to exceed a certain amount for each week. Or something like that. lol That way he can earn some cash without being stuck doing the same old thing all the time.

He's almost 14, so I can understand him wanting to have some money for when he goes to the local stre to get himself a pop, sport drink, gum, candy chips or something like that. Or maybe to save up and buy his gf something for the holidays or whatever. (if he has one at the time)

I'm thinking about trying it AGAIN but we'll have to have a good heart to heart talk first and he has to understand that he will have to work for it. I'm not going ot just hand over cash every week and him doing bad in school, not doing his share around the house or anything else.

I do, but its definately chore based... as of right now they each have the same chores over and over, but I like how cleaningla's mom did it and I may adopt that Maybe it won't make the chores so boring all the time (ya right! LOL) .. but it will mix things up

Mine get paid according to the work done.

I also give $5 for every A and $2 for B's. I debated about paying for grades and decided that thats how it will work in the real working world as well, so they might as well learn that now... do a good job and get a good education, you make better money

Mine don't get an allowance. We tried that, it lasted a couple days and they were back to the old ways. Now we do a chore chart with points. Each chore is worth so many points. Each one of the kids picks out chores to do for the day and they get points for those chores. At the end of the week the get a reward depending on the amount of points they have. It seems to be working alot better then assigning chores and giving them an allowance. I don't believe in giving them money for doing nothing. Its just not the way I was raised. My grandma made me earn the money/extras I wanted when I was growing up (I lived with my grandparents). She provided everything for me but if I wanted money to do things with I had to do chores. It didn't kill me even though I'm sure sometimes I thought it was the end world. lol

Nope I don't give allowances. Chores and good grades are expected as the norm. Failure in doing them equals lose of priviledges. Our kids are rewarded for good grades by us allowing them to play softball, cheerlead, band and such.

I don't call it allowances. I say "I will pay .25 for vacumming", or "I will pay .50 for mopping the kitchen" or "I will pay .25 for folding and putting away the towels" stuff like that. By Friday, they usually all 3 have a little spending money.
Now on the other hand, if they leave a wet washclothe in the shower or bathtub, they owe me a load of towels with out pay.......I can't stand to pick up 20 washcloths from the shower............

they quit doing that fast!!!

my mom says that is cheap labor!!!!!

Originally Posted by mom2cvam

Mine don't get an allowance. We tried that, it lasted a couple days and they were back to the old ways.

Same here

We do not give allowances either. Although if they want/need something or money for something then its given as long as they havent been horrible lately. Used to be on payday everyone knew they would be getting something but then they just got greedier and greedier and lazy and lazier so it became if you deserve something then you receive something. Usually when they ask for money its given as long as they dont take advantage of it.

And we do NOT pay for good grades. Good grades are expected in our house, not something they do only for a reward. And if they make poor grades due to lack of turning in homework or something that have control over or can handle then there are consequences. If they do bad in a class and have shown that they were trying then we try to help them with it the best we can.

We tried to chore chart for a while in the past and at first the kids were all excited over it and runnin around trying to do the jobs and mark their names on the chart but after a while no one wanted to do squat! With 5 kids in the house...chores are a given as well.