Sunday, September 30, 2007

Allowance

Today in church during Priesthood/R.S. we talked about tithing. That brought up the idea of teaching our kids, and allowing them to gain experience paying tithing, which naturally led to the idea of allowance. This has been a subject my husband and I have talked about extensively, and it was again discussed at dinner tonight. What it comes down to is we have no good ideas how to give our children money to practice paying tithing. We have a few years before the idea of "allowance" becomes an issue, but it's something we hope to reconcile before Greta reaches the age where she can ask for money, and have a grasp on how to spend and save. We know we want to give her money to use, but we don't want to end up teaching her that she can get something for nothing and/or that she'll get paid for doing the things that she's expected to do as part of a family (i.e. chores). So we're at a loss.

What are your thoughts? Did you receive an "allowance" growing up? How do you plan on giving money to your children so they can learn the essential skills of money management and the blessings of tithing?
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7 comments:

Linz said...

This is an interesting subject. I did not get an allowance as a kid. (We did get $20 if we got straight A's on our report card when I was a kid.) I don't have any definitive answers. I do like the idea that chores are part of being a family. When I was in middle school, I babysat like one night a weekend almost every weekend for my little sibs and was never paid, it was just part of being in the family. However, the other day someone was telling me about how when they bring their kids to the store, instead of begging for a toy, they think about how much of their allowance they need to save before they can buy it. I liked that thought!!!

September 30, 2007 at 8:07 PM
Liz said...

We didn't have allowance as kids either. There were jobs and chores above and beyond what was expected that you could earn money for. Like cleaning baseboards, polishing shoes, edging the lawn, ironing, stuff like that. I was a big babysitter as well but never got paid for taking care of my own siblings. It was just part of being fed and housed! But they found other ways to reward us and teach us about tithing and money

September 30, 2007 at 9:14 PM
Unknown said...

My parents tried giving us an allowance when we were really little, but it sort of fizzled out quickly. Once I started babysitting and got my first job, I just started paying tithing then, which I felt comfortable with. However, I was never taught about saving, which is one big thing that my husband taught me about when we were first married.

We have friends who've decided to give all of their kids an allowance each week to teach them about tithing and saving. There are no chores attached, and if I understand correctly, they never withhold it as a punishment--the kids just get it because they're part of the family. I think the kids get $2.50 a week (with the change in quarters, for easy tithing payment, which I thought was terribly clever). The oldest may get more now.

To be honest, my husband and I didn't like their idea at first, just because we felt that the kids should have to "earn" their money to teach them responsibility. However, I think your approach really depends on what your goal is.

September 30, 2007 at 9:41 PM
Charlotte said...

We received an allowance like the one Laura mentions. It wasn't tied to chores (which we had), and it was never withheld as punishment. It was just something we got for being part of the family. I also did receive money when I babysat my younger siblings (I'm the oldest of 6), but the rate was about 1/2 of what I was paid to babysit children who weren't my siblings.

We weren't paid for the chores that we were assigned (Saturday cleaning, taking out trash, washing dishes, etc.), but there were extra chores that we could do for money if we wanted (mowing the lawn, weeding dandilions, ironing my father's shirts, folding laundry)

Rather than giving us cash though, my parents bought us each a ledger book and when we earned any money, rather than giving us cash, we were allowed to make an entry for that amount in the book. It was like my parents were the bank, and we each had our own little bank account. When we wanted to spend our money, we just took it out of our books, and my mom would give us the cash. We paid tithing once a month the same way.

This method was something that my grandparents did with my mom and her siblings, and all of them are now debt-free, even though many of them were in professions that were not high-paying. As for my brothers and sister and me, we all save and we all pay off our credit cards every month.

So, I don't know if this method would work for everyone, but it sure has worked for us.

October 1, 2007 at 10:29 AM
Jen said...

Growing up we didn't really have an allowance. We were required to have a job at a very young age. I started burning boxes for my uncle's store in elementary. I got $33 a month and I had 4 baby jars I put my money in. One was tithing, Savings, Disneyland fund and spending. I also did the same thing with birthday money. This taught me to save money and pay tithing.
One thing that my sister does (she has 5 children the oldest is 12), she gives them an allowance that is equal to their age. So the 12 year old gets $12 and the 5 year old gets $5. However, there are chores that have to be completed and good grade in able to get the allowance. She has a chore chart on the refrigerater and when they do their chores she puts a sticker by their name and at the end of the month she determines how much of an allowance each child gets. I will say the oldest one doesn't always get $12. Sometimes he only gets $6 or even $4. He is now starting to learn that if he doesn't do his chores that his little brothers get more money than he does. My sister also has them put money in tithing, saving and spending jars. I don't know what really works. It might be different for each child. Because as a kid my two siblings and myself learned to save and pay tithing. However, my one brother never paid his tithing and doesn't know how to save any money and my parents did the same thing for all of us. Good luck.

October 1, 2007 at 1:47 PM
Skipper said...

We didn't have allowance. My mom and dad gave us money for mowing the lawn and babysitting.

BUT, when we were really little my mom would choose one Saturday a month when we would "Treasure-Hunt-Clean." She would hide coins under our toys and clothes, and when we cleaned up we got to keep the money. Then my mom would help us figure out how much tithing (and savings) we had to put away. It was REALLY fun for us, and it stuck with me.

October 1, 2007 at 4:50 PM
Unknown said...

These are such great ideas! And, Charlotte, I read an article about the ledger book idea just a few months ago--your grandparents were way ahead of their time! (Or maybe the rest of society has just fallen behind the times...)

October 1, 2007 at 8:08 PM

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