My DD has finally decided that she wants to earn an allowance. She's never gotten one before because she wouldn't keep her room clean and she wouldn't help with anything else around the house. I'm willing to give her a chance but I don't know what the going rate for 10yr olds is. Any thoughts?
TIA
Kim

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Lord don't let that cold wind blow til I'm too old to die young'

My kids are 6 and 8 and this is how I handle it. I write down jobs that need to be done and the amount that each job pays. They can pick the job or jobs they want to do. Of course, the harder the job, the more the pay. I do it this way for several reasons. First, they have some say in what they do so they don't feel forced into working. Also, it teaches them that harder work yields more $$$. And it's actually fun for them to pick what they do and whether they do more than one job.
Personally, I don't make any job worth a lot.
Here's my list:

Cleaning bedroom: $2
Vacuuming living room: .50
Sweeping kitchen: .50
Folding towels: $1
Dusting living room and dining room: $1

I add to the list when other things need to be done. And since I have 2 kids with hands out for the money, I try to have 2 jobs on the list for the same amount of money. For example, I'll put 2 jobs on there that each pay $2 and 2 jobs that each pay $1, etc. That way they have the chance to earn the same amount of money. With that said, my 6 year old usually picks the easy jobs that don't pay much and then wonders why her sister has double the money that she has, lol!

Sorry, not much help but I just hope your dd doesn't expect to work a little and earn a lot. Or maybe I'm just cheap, LOL.

I like the ideas above! We are similar, in that we offer jobs, and there's an amount attached.

However, we consider cleaning their room a "freebie" - they actually HAVE to have a clean room in order to take on any money-making jobs.

Just a different spin.

And Tag1114 - I think your $ values are very fair! We're about where you are, too!

When my kids were that age. We paid them allowance every payday. I gave them both $10.00 each. They had to keep their rooms clean. & had to do their daily choirs. For each choir they didn't do I deducted a $ 1.00 from their allowance. Once I deducted the money from their allowance they made sure all their choirs were done.

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Well, my kids have chores that they do, Clean rooms, pick up floors, dishwasher, and a few others.

My ds is 10 and he gets $5 a week.
My dd is 7 and she gets $2 a week. (she does not have as many chores as the brother).

If they don't do something, they get a deduction.

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I do a dollar per year. My son is 10 and gets $10.00. The chore list also gets longer each year. But if they do not do their rooms and other things that they are in charge of I take $1.00 off. Now I have started something new. For everything of theirs that I have to pick up I put it in a basket for each child and they owe me $1.00 for the basket. I know that sounds mean but we had lost control of all the little messes that the kids were leaving me.

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I should clarify that they don't get paid each week or each day to clean their rooms. Every Saturday they MUST clean their room, no money. But when I pay them, it's when they do extras in their room like clean out the toy box and donate some toys to Goodwill or clean the closet, etc.
And there are occasions when everything except the beds come out of their room and all toys are sorted, trashed, donated, put away neatly, closets and drawers cleaned...EVERYTHING....and they will earn between $5-$10 for that type of job.

I have 3 children that are now 20, 11, and 10. The oldest never got an allowance and never learned to save money. He still doesn't. The younger two have received an allowance since they were about 3. It started off at $1.50 or $2 a week, I don't remember. Now they get $5 a week each. It is not tied into any chores. If they want to buy something at the store they know that if they don't have the money they can't buy it. This makes it much easier to go to the store. Even if they forget and ask for something I just say do you have enough to pay for it and they stop. They also have to spend their own money when we go to Disneyland, The Zoo etc.... Both of my younger children are very good at saving their money. I think it is because of the allowance, and I wish I had done it with my older son too.

We operate on a marble system here. Each chore is worth a certain amount of marbles (for example, loading the dishwasher is 4 marbles , taking out the trash is 3 marbles, and cleaning the bathroom is 10 marbles) and each marble is worth 10 cents. At the end of each week, my boys cash in their marbles for an allowance. My 11 year old usually ends up with about $6 or $7. I prefer the marble system. For some reason, it' s much easier to get my boys to take out the garbage for 3 marbles than for 30 cents.

LOL at that comment! Great idea with the marbles, love the concept! My 3rd grader's teacher uses a marble system for good behavior. When the jar is filled up, they get a reward like a popcorn party and movie. They can also lose marbles for bad behavior.
Anyway, I do think it's a wonderful idea for an allowance system as well.

I give my kids the dollar amount of the grade they are in in school. My 5th grader gets $5. and my 3rd grader gets $3. So each new school year their allowance is raised another dollar.
They do have to help out around the house, but I feel that chores should be done because you are a part of the family, not for money. I try not to connect the allowance to the chores. I think allowance is a good way for the kids to learn to manage money. That's the main reason I give them an allowance. My 10 yr old boy loves to spend and my 8 yr. old daughter likes to save!

There's an article on MSN today that I think is pretty good. It is in regards to this topic:

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com...&wa=wsignin1.0

Our childrens rooms have to be neat or at least a very good effort has to be made. (stuff in the general area it belongs)
Then they can earn extra money.

I read a website that says kids should have to help around the house for nothing but the joy of helping the family and they should get a paycheck for going to their job(school)
What do you guys think about that??

I think that's interesting. I don't know...

I do think that children should learn that being part of a family requires participating in maintaining the household by doing chores. However, I also think that it helps a child to actually "earn" their allowance through work and not get it simply for doing something that they have to do (like going to school). I don't force my kids to do chores. All I usually have to do is announce that we'll be going to Target soon, and they're fighting over chores. LOL

I also just can't see me paying my kids to go to school, but I do know a few parents that give their kids monetary rewards for good grades. I don't do that because my kids understand that good grades are just expected in our home.

However, I can see how might hold completely opposite views.



edited because I can't spell.

I agree that kids need to help do things at home without expecting pay. And while I do pay for jobs, I also expect some things to be done at no cost, simply because they help mess up, they must help clean up. I also don't like the idea that my 2 kids try to convey to me: "it's not my toy or my paper, it's HERS". They feel they don't have to pick up anything that's not theirs. But I remind them that I wash their clothes and yet I don't wear their clothes, I cook their meals and THEY eat them, etc. I like the idea of everyone pitching in and helping. But yes I do pay also. I think it's kind of a balance that works in our home.
As for school, I am a big believer in rewarding for good grades and good conduct and EFFORT.

I do 'allowance' every now and then based on how well the kids have helped (which isn't much and I've tried numerous other things). There are things that I don't pay them for as I feel like these are their responsibilities: Their dogs so they have to feed & water them; Their rooms so they are responsible for cleaning them as no one makes the mess but them--I'm not going to pay them to clean up their own messes. They go to taekwondo two nights a week and love it, so if their rooms aren't clean on those days, they must sit out. When they help out around the house, I give them some money here and there. My kids are 10, 8 and 5 (and infant) and I like the marble system mentioned above. I think I'm going to try that as I've been trying to come up with something that will work and also a way to take away from them for bad behavior or not doing the chores. We also have the problem with them leaving things everywhere (though it's getting much better since I started giving a warning and then it goes into the donation bin or trash), so I might try making them pay me back a marble per item I've confiscated. We shall see. It can only get better in my opinion.

Edited to add that I do give them $10 each when they get their report cards IF they've made all A's. All three of my kids have gotten all A's on their report cards since starting Kindergarten. They do know doing their best is expected of them and they all know that they are very smart and capable of making all A's, but rewarding them with some cash (or sometimes we just go to Chuckie Cheese, etc.) keeps them working hard. It works for us anyway.

I totally agree!! This drives me nuts...and not only do my kids do it, but hubby as well. Grrr.... I swear someday I am just going to do only those things that directly benefit me and see how it goes....

cj/