Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Allowance.

This morning N asked me for some money for the school store, where they sell little trinkets and things. He's had his eye on something there. I gave him $2. Then he asked if he could please, please, please get an ice cream bar at lunch. I gave him another dollar.

He sat quietly for a moment and then asked if it was okay to use the ice cream money at the school store...or, did he have to get ice cream. This made me laugh. I think he pulled the old bait and switch on me! I told him he could use it however he wanted. I'm not going to force him to get ice cream.

Birthday gifts: pottery from my friend Andrea and necklace from my friend Jenn.

So this made me wonder about allowance. Do parents still give allowances? At what age do you start? How much do you give? I remember being excited about my 50 cent allowance, but times have changed.

What are your thoughts on allowance?

7 comments:

AJ said...

I can't remember when I started getting an allowance, but I had to earn it by doing *a ton* of chores. And I spent most of it on comic books! But as a teenager, I was really proud of myself when I used my birthday money to put a bike on layaway and then paid it off with my allowance :)

I think it's good for kids to get an allowance, whether or not they have to do chores to earn it. It teaches them about handling money, budgeting, saving up, all sorts of skills that will do them well as adults!

Christina J. said...

He would definitely have work for it. :)

I can see him wanting to save his allowance money and not wanting to spend it. He'll still think I should give him money for things like the school store! :)

Jonara Blu Maui said...

I never got allowance..though I know my mom wanted to. I shouldn't say never..I did get a buck a couple of times. But I understood my parents were always struggling.

I used to give cameron a dollar a week..and it would slowly rise as he got older. It was 5 dollars for a long time and then we jumped it to 10 as he got to be a teenager and handling things like mowing the lawn. We always told him though that sometimes we may not be able to do it and he's still expected to do his chores..thats just part of helping the family. He's never complained and we have had to take a break many times. I think allowance teaches them the value of money..spending thier own and running out of thier own makes them think about purchases a little more.

iSew said...

I never got an allowance, but I think it's really cool that you gave him the money. It must be nice just to make him happy so easily sometimes.

What a pretty necklace!!

AJ said...

By the way, you're it! Just tagged you in my blog :)

Jenn Maruska said...

What a beautiful photo of your birthday goodies - those two together are lovely. So glad you like the necklace. : )

My brother and I didn't get allowances, we were paid to do specific chores around the house (and by "paid" I mean usually "$0.25"). And if we wanted something big from the store that wasn't a necessity, we had to earn at least half of it by doing chores. That was the rule.

Sarah and Jack said...

I think allowance is a wonderful thing as long as it is earned and not just given, does that make sense?

Even when Jack was younger, I would give him change for doing something (usually using the potty), then he would put it in his piggy bank and we would talk about how he was saving up for whatever toy he had his eye on.

At only 4, he has a surprisingly good idea of things that are too "cospensive" for us to buy, and things that are a "pretty good deal". LOL