We give our kids allowance beginning when they turn 5.\u00a0 I hate the term \u201callowance\u201d and would rather call it a salary, but they didn\u2019t go along with that.<\/p>\n
Our children must earn their allowances.\u00a0 They have specific chores for each day of the week.\u00a0 Things like sweep the kitchen and entryway, vacuum the living room, wash the lunch dishes, etc.\u00a0 The chores are on top of keeping their rooms clean and doing their school work.\u00a0 These things are their jobs as children in our home.<\/p>\n
As with any job, the people in charge ( their parents ) expect them to do the things on their to-do lists without having to be nagged or followed around.\u00a0 They get one free reminder per day in addition to the jobs\u2019 being posted on the white board in our kitchen.\u00a0 Every additional reminder costs them.\u00a0 We used to ground or spank.\u00a0 I\u2019ve tried yelling and pleading, but docking their pay is the most effective thing I\u2019ve found.<\/p>\n
Every Friday night, we call them together, and the Computer Guy and I pay them.\u00a0 We then discuss any problems we\u2019ve had during the week and they must pay us back out of their allowance for whatever they were docked.\u00a0 ( Example: I paid #2 his $5.\u00a0 He had a week where he had to be constantly reminded to do his chores and his school.\u00a0 He actually tried to sneak not doing his math 2 days.\u00a0 He had to pay us back $3 out of his pay.\u00a0 The next week, we had no problems.)<\/p>\n
Each child has a bank and a check register to record how much money they have. (We got these for free from our bank.\u00a0 Just ask for them.) Their allowances are written down and added to the total.\u00a0 Every purchase, no matter how small, is written down and subtracted.\u00a0 They always know to the penny how much they have at any given time.<\/p>\n
We think it is important to teach children how to manage money and balance a checkbook.\u00a0 We want them to understand that small splurges are okay, but they delay reaching a larger goal.\u00a0 We think it\u2019s important that they know to add the delay in getting whatever they\u2019re saving for as a part of the cost of an extra Icee or candy bar at the store.<\/p>\n
Some are better than others at this, as I expected they would be.\u00a0 My main goal is to take the mystery out of handling money.\u00a0 I want them to make their mistakes now when it is relatively painless instead of when they are on their own for the first time.\u00a0 I had no concept of money when I got my first apartment, and it was a long time before I even began to start figuring it out.\u00a0 I want them to have the gift of financial confidence.\u00a0 That\u2019s why we do it the way we do.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We give our kids allowance beginning when they turn 5.\u00a0 I hate the term \u201callowance\u201d and would rather call it a salary, but they didn\u2019t go along with that. Our children must earn their allowances.\u00a0 They have specific chores for each day of the week.\u00a0 Things like sweep the kitchen and entryway, vacuum the living […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1979,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n