WE ASKED:
How much do you think an allowance should be?
“
How Much Do You Allow For Allowances?
By Lynne Meyer T
hinking about giving your child an allow- ance? If so, there are a host of things to consider. How much? How oſten? Will you tie household responsibilities to it?
At what age should you start giving your child an al- lowance? Since every child is different, the age at which to
start an allowance will vary, and parents know their own child best, says Carolyn Landis, Ph.D., child psy- chologist at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital and the mother of two children, ages 9 and 11. “Children in kindergarten are starting to learn
about counting and may begin to understand what money is for,” she says. “Tere are no hard and fast rules, however, and many parents don’t start giving their children an allowance until they’re a little older.” Suzanne and Tom Wilson of North Royalton
have two children, Tanner, 11, and Linsey, 13, who receive weekly allowances. Te Wilsons initially tried to start their children on allowances when they
12 FAMILY MAGAZINE
were about 6 and 7 years old. “Tey weren’t quite ready for the concept of money,
however, so we decided to wait a few years,” Suzanne Wilson says. “When they started wanting money on a regular basis to buy a toy or do certain activities with their friends, we felt it was a good time to start. We wanted to teach them about money when it would be meaningful to them.” Another area without hard and fast rules is wheth-
er or not to tie an allowance to completing home chores. “Tere’s simply no right or wrong answer,” Lan-
dis says. “If you tie a child’s allowance to completing chores, however, it’s a little more complex. You have to have a very clear understanding about specific de- tails. For example, if cleaning their bedroom is one of their tasks, what exactly constitutes a clean room? What you have in mind may be different from what your child thinks is a clean room.” Te Wilson children earn their allowances. “We
look at it as kind of like a job, so they actually have to do their chores to get their allowances,” Wilson says. Restrictions on what an allowance can be spent on
is another issue parents need to address up front. “We don’t just hand them the money and allow them to use it for whatever they want,” Wilson says.
$5
The most common weekly allowance for ages 5 to 12
—
WWW.KIDSMONEY.ORG
We just started allow- ance for our 4-year- old: 25 cents per chore over a seven-day pe- riod. He has to make his bed everyday for a week to get 25 cents, get himself dressed everyday for 25 cents, brush his teeth morning and night each day and pick up his toys at the end of the day. $1 a week seems reasonable at his age. All he really cares about is that he has “his own money” for the ice cream truck! — Amy Oplinger Campbell
The amount of money a child receives should be age-appropriate and should depend on what chores they do for it. — Karen Roth Czaplicki
I have been woe- fully inconsistent with trying to implement allowances for my boys. The guidelines are great, $1/week, with a chance to earn an extra quarter if they do their chores without my nagging. But since I don't nag, no chores get done. Now that we are on summer break, I will be doing a chart, to get organized on this. — Amy Leutenberg Brodsky
Depending on their age, I think the allow- ance should only be $1 or $2 per week. If they are older kids that are doing larger jobs like mowing the grass then I think they should receive more, maybe $5 to $10 per week. — Beverly Noetzel Wenzel
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