My 8 yr old has expressed that he thinks he's ready for an allowance. Just want to know what other families do and how much do they give an 8yr old. I was thinking 10.00 week and if he wants to earn extra money he can do other chores that he is not already obligated to do. I was also going to require that he save 10% and give 10% of it. What do you think?
We decided to keep it simple for our sake.. We told him he would have to do 2 extra chores (he still had to do his regular chores as being part of the family and that wasn't part of this) Every week Dad picks a chore and Mom picks a chore. Each chore is worth $4.00 and will vary based on what we need done that week. If he does both completely and does a good job, he will get 8.00 and he must save and give 10%. I'll post the jobs on Monday and he has till Sunday to complete them and wont get paid til it's done. These chores wouldn't be easy or light and might take 2-3 days to complete or it might require to be done throughout the week everyday. That puts the responsibility back on him. Thanks for everyone's advice. It helped us think this through more and we now agree that earning money will teach him more then just giving an allowance and that his regular chores are just required and he doesn't "get paid" for doing those.
Dave Ramsey has some good suggestions about allowences. We personally only give money for things above and eyond. We have 11 kids and they are all expected to be part of this family and help it run so not so normal tasks are the only one s eligable for money and no extra money if the daily tasks are not being accomplished. Just some more info to wiegh into the decision for you! Hope it helps!
Sincerely,
K. B
When my childres started school, I started them with allowance. We gave them each $1 for each grade they were in per week. If they helped out around the house, or did extras, we would add some extra sometimes, just as a reward. Once they got older, we actually required them to do chores to receive the money. After they got their first job, we stopped giving them the allowance.
My advice is to make a chore chart and assign an amount to each one. Make sure the total of them all is no more than you are willing to pay. And at the end of the week he gets a pay check for the work he has done. If he does a good job you can consider an extra "tip" or if he does a bad job you could deduct. If he does a poor job for two or there consecutive weeks he could be "fired" from that job therefore reducing the total he has the potential to earn! You have to work for your money and he should have to as well. Children shouldn't get money for just being a part of the family. It is a great tool to teach responsibility! And the 10% each to save and giving are a great idea!
We give our 8 year old $8.00 (one dollar for every year). We require him to save half, and then he gets the other half to spend as he wants. The half he saves we keep here in a little envelope until he's accumulated enough for a bank run, then my husband takes him to make a deposit. He loves looking at his bank book to see how much money he has!
Let me know how that goes.... I started my 8 year old (girl) on $5.00 week, and monitored her chores for deductions. I also required her to tithe. She did great! When she asked for more, we assigned learning tasks. She added $3.00 for listening to the (audio) Bible 30 minutes a day. Other money earners became, story writing, handwriting, and math challenges. I try to focus on the 3R's.
I'm a remarried work at home mom of 4-three girls, one boy ages 9,7,6,3.
I think you are right on about saving and giving 10%. I do not give my kids an allowance. They earn so much a week for set chores. I think this helps prepare them for the real world. They do really well and complete their chores everyday. If they don't there is no money. I gave my daughter ten dollars a week for her chores when she was eight. Be sure to make a list of chores and post it on the fridge everyday and let them check offf each chore ans it is completed.
Good Luck!
D.
A couple of years ago we started giving our son "commission." My mom actually bought him the Financial Peace, JR. kit from Dave Ramsey. We fill in a chart with different chores that he would need to do anyway, and he earns "commission" when he earns a check for that particular chore. It comes with a dry erase board, cd, and 3 envelopes:give, save, spend. It's only $10 right now for the holidays! Check out daveramsey.com
I have four children and I start giving them allowances at age 3. They get one dollar per year of age per month- my 10 year old gets $10 per month. They have to give 10% in tithes to the church and 10% in savings. If they choose to put more than 10% in savings I match it. So, if my daughter decides she would like to put 2 dollars in savings instead of 1 I give her an extra dollar in her savings. They are not allowed to spend their savings- it is for college and such. I also think it is very important to tie allowances to some kind of merit. My children- even my 3 year old- has chores (for example, my 3 year old picks up his toys and puts away shoes that seem to pile up next to our doors). If they don't do their chores they don't get their allowance. I think if you give a child an allowance for just existing they learn a wrong lesson. In the real world you have to work for what you get. Growing up, I did not get an allowance, but I did get paid for grades $10 for each A, $5 for each B, nothing for C's, and we had to pay our parents $5 for a D, and $10 for an F. I think $10 a week is a little excessive unless your child is going to be required to buy some of his own needs like clothes and school supplies. I little bit of money helps to teach children to budget and plan for things they really want without over indulging them.
Our 11 y/o son has daily chores to do. He gets paid for some of them, but not all of them (like putting away his clothes or taking care of his pets). He has a checklist, morning chores are worth $0.05 and afternoon tasks are worth $0.10 (tend to be more involved), he checks off the chores and tasks when he finishes them. If he doesn't check it off, he doesn't get paid for it so how much he earns is directly related to how much he works. He can also do extra tasks to earn extra money. We are trying to teach him that you work to earn money and it is your resposibility to clock in/out properly. But you don't get paid for everything you do as an adult.
I think that 8 is a good time to start showing money appreciation. I think you and your husband should create a token economy with chores and other things that are requried and keep a check system so that after a week or two the child earns all of the money from the items that were done correctly - any funds for not completing a task. You and your husband can come up with how much each task is worth,so that you can give what is comfortable to you.
Think about times that your 8 year old might need money and use that to avg. his allowance.
Hope it helps
IMO I think that 10$/week is too much for an 8yr old. I'd do not more than 5$. If you give him too much he will never have to save up to buy something he wants, instant gratification. and .50 to 1.00 into a savings account and the same to give is deffinately good.
I would check out the Dave Ramsey site for his Jr program on giving "commissions". He has great advice and products to use in giving your children money and teaching them about money. You should be able to find information on his website (or you could google it) daveramsey.com.
Enjoy!
Hi S.!
I have mixed feelings on allowances, but I think that if you do give your child one, tithing and saving portions of it is an excellent idea! I'm sure I'll be giving my son an allowance when the time comes, but I'm one who finds it hard to reward children (or anyone for that matter!) for things that they are required to be doing anyway. I want my son to clean and tidy up because he takes pride in his room , our house and our belongings; that should be the reward; that is responsibility (to me). Now for the extra things, like you said, I have no problem giving money for that.
You should do what you think is best for you and your family.
God Bless & Take Care!
~J.
Hi S.! I am of the mindset that kids should not receive an allowance for regular household chores. There are certain responsibilities that kids need to do just because they are a member of the family. If you really want to pay your son an allowance, think of some jobs that he doesn't normally do and don't pay him for these jobs until his regular ones are done.
I think that giving kids allowances can be a good thing and it is wise for you to teach him to give and save a portion of his money.
I do think that $10 a week sounds a little high. Maybe $5?
A.
Hi, S.! My opinion is that so many parents make such different choices regarding allowance that it really depends on the personality of your child. If you feel that he needs to understand the idea of giving to others better, then I think your plan is an excellent one! There's always room for teaching your child those lessons. I do not fully agree with giving allowances, but then again, my child is only 8 months old. Who knows what I'll think about it in 8 years! But at the age of 8 years old, $10 a week sounds very reasonable.
Good luck!
K.
If he pulls his weight in chores in your home, $10 is not too much if you can afford that and he is going to be held financially responsible for buying his own toys and things other than for birthdays and Christmas. And yes, by all means, do this with the understanding that a certain portion must be saved and a portion given, with the savings portion to go towards a future goal perhaps -- college, car, retirement (never too early to save for that anymore!) and never touched for any purchase (other than a future car perhaps). I also like your idea that he can earn "extra" by doing above-and-beyond chores. I tried the "money per chore" thing (as their only means of making money and with nothing for normal chores) with my kids and it never worked because once they had the amount they wanted, they would then slack off on chores until they needed money again, so we quickly did away with that "system". There's nothing wrong with getting an allowance at his age for doing his normal chores and then adding extra chores for extra money. Conversely, be sure to make him pay YOU if you have to do his chore (unless he is sick or at camp or something). If he agrees to all of that, I say give him the allowance.
I think 10.00 a week with guidelines is perfect for an 8yr old. Go to HANDIPOINTS.COM, they have a great chore chart system to include homework and other school projects. 10% for savings and 10% for tithing or other is good too. Also keep in mind that earning money for chores is good but, (and I have done this with both of my children who are 13 years apart in age) when they leave something out and I had to tell them more than once to pick it up..... I created the "Lost for punishment and Return for purchase Program". When my children have lost something due to not putting it away or for restriction purposes..... they had to pay a price for their return. Like: Football left in the hallway floor - .25, Playing the playstation (what ever game they were arguing/or throwing an tantrum with) - .50 ..... and so on.
When they have to pay back some of the money they earn, they learn to be even more responsible with their things.
GOOD LUCK!
My daughter is 8yrs old and in 3rd grade. She gets $3 a week (one dollar for every grade she is in so next year will be 4 a week) which averages out to about $12 a month. Her responsibilities are (and some have been before the allowance) feeding and water the cats every day, making her bed/opening her blinds, take recycle out to the bucket, take bucket to curb on Mon/bring back up on Tues, empty small trash cans on Weds and toss in main trash for trash day, bring trash can up on Thrusday. She also earns extra money for doing things around the house, picking up sticks, watching her 2yr old brother while I'm at the gym (I'm in the same room, she just keeps him occupied while I work out for an hour), etc. She also looses money if I have to do one of her jobs. Not feeding the cats cost her 25cents, recycle to the bucket cost her 25cents, not keeping her dirty clothes in basket cost her 50cents, etc. I keep track of the deductions and extra pay on our dry erase calendar with the charge and what it was for. I've even charged her $2.00 for ruining a brand new pair of socks just to help teach her how to be responsible with her things!! We also let her spend her money how she wants right now for several reasons. They have been learning about money in school and all but we want her to understand real life money transactions, not just simply swipeing your card in a machine and walking away with your stuff. And the other reason is to teach her responsible spending. At first she saved about 2 months worth and blew it on toys. Well, half way through the till the next pay out, she wanted to buy something and didn't have enough money and we wouldn't help her buy it. It's been a slow learning process but she has been getting the idea that money doesn't grow on tress and to be more thoghtful on what to spend it on. Maybe next year we'll require her to put some in a savings account so she can start learning about banking as well.
Good luck!
S.
S.,
My husband and I are involved in a church and so we went through a course at a local church who offered this financial course that is biblically based, Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace, in it we learned that we should start giving our 4 year old a commission. We have set up 3 jars in his room. One is labeled money for Jesus, the next is savings and the third is bank. We made a list of stuff that he has to do to earn money (ie: clean his room, brush his teeth, get himself ready for school and on and on). We give him this money each night, it is about 60 to 70 cents a day. We give him the money and he has to go to get his jars out and put the first money in the jar labeled money for Jesus, the next money goes into savings and the third goes into spending. It has really taught him a lot of responsibility. He is always asking us to take his money to the bank and yes we let him make the deposit so that he will know that he is really putting it into an account. We are doing this also for our 3 year old, he understands a little but the more we do it the more he learns. I wish that someone taught me the value of money when I was younger. It is exciting to me to see my son go to the store and spend his own money on toys or whatever he wants. If he doesn't have enough money then we tell him that he will have to wait and buy it when he does have enough. That is the hardest thing to do for us as parents but it is teaching him that everything is not handed to him if he wants it, he has to earn it. It really has worked for us! Hope this helps you out. Maybe you could do a chart and tell him that if he does these things each day and he will get paid whatever the amount that you set up for that job. If he doesn't do it then he doesn't get paid for that job that day. Let me know if you have any questions.
T.
My sons chore chart consist of:
Wiping down sink
setting table
picking up toys before bed
feed the cat
Choice: Either help clean kitchen after dinner or help pick up living room after dinner.
What I do is I have a point system. Each chore gets a point and I only give him chores Mon-Fri. This weeks equals 25 points so I have a chart at the top that says '23 points'=$5 or a $5 toy (whatever you choose) and 24pts= to see a movie and All 25 pts equals either a trip to his favorite place to play)ChuckE Cheese or Flying Frog ect...., or $10.
Just an idea.
