Teaching Your Kids About Allowances
BOSTON (CBS) - According to a recent survey almost half of kids get an allowance. I do think kids should get an allowance because having money of their own gives them the opportunity to learn about saving, spending, and delaying gratification and perhaps work ethics.
Once upon a time, I believed allowances should not be tied to work that they do around the house. However, recent studies have shown that this theory has produced a generation of entitled kids with no work ethic.
I'm not sure this is only the reason kids feel entitled to your money but it is a place to start to teach them that you have to go to work to earn your money so you can pay bills, save, and buy the things you need.
Children should be expected to help around the house and if you want to give them an allowance you can in essence pay them to help. Make out a list that is age appropriate.
Make sure your sons and daughters have equal opportunity to learn about all of the necessary chores it takes to run a household. My daughter mowed the lawn and spread bark mulch and my son learned to cook and clean up which led to a cooking career.
Children need to have money of their own, to spend, to save, and to make mistakes with. Yes, mistakes! But as parents we don't want our kids to make mistakes. We coddle them. We protect them. We bail them out if they run out of money. Don't do it!
The experts recommend giving a dollar amount to match their age. So a 10-year-old would receive $10 a week. Now if you expect them to also buy their lunch at school, pay for entertainment and pay dues to the Cub Scouts from their allowance you will need to increase it.
I did find an allowance calculator to help figure out how much you should give the kiddo and a website, Pay Jr, which is an elaborate allowance system transferring money as soon as parents sign off on the website that chores are done.
