The Topic: Allowances

Some parents give their kids a small amount of money to spend freely or save every week, others give cash in exchange for doing chores, and there are those who expect them to earn extras by taking on small jobs outside the house. All systems are designed for the kid’s benefit, of course, with some kvetching-prevention thrown in for everyone’s mental health.

Do you give your children an allowance?

Yes:

Right now, we don’t do an allowance; we give a reasonable amount upon request for the snack machines in school or the pizza shop, and we deposit a set amount monthly into the kids’ bank accounts, which they’re aware of but they don’t have access to.

I’m not of the opinion that kids need to earn money doing the household tasks that are their responsibility, and we discuss with them how we invest their savings, the magic of compound interest, etc., every once in a while.

When they want something extra special, we either decide to buy it for them or decide not to, and that’s the end of it (kidding! That triggers a weeks-/months-/years-long campaign of why they neeeeeeed that very special thing, and we reassess at birthdays, Chanukah gift time, afikomen, or if they have sufficiently worn us down, depending on the item and how shitahdig we are about it. For all other things, there are cool aunts and uncles.

Short answer? Yes.

But.

It’s not a “gift,” and not a reward for existing. It’s also not in exchange for basic household chores and responsibilities; that’s called being part of a family. I see allowance as a teaching tool, a way to prepare kids to handle money responsibly before it really counts.