Yes, kids should get an allowance, but why: for chores, good grades, to teach the value of a dollar--or just because?
I missed the memo on allowances. Literally.
Apparently, my children's pediatrician sent one home almost two years ago, after my daughter's sixth-year checkup. I must have recycled it. Luckily I have two kids, so after my son clocked in for his recent six-year checkup, I happened to read a few lines of the five-page memo they thrust into my hands at checkout.
Provide a small allowance, it advised. Time to teach them how to handle money.
At six?
Back in 1831, when Lydia Marie Child recommended children's allowances in her advice tome The Mother's Book, the suggested age was 12. (Yes that's right: Lydia Marie Child, who's best known as one of America's first abolitionist writers).
Parents of teenagers, read and weep--and try not to gag on the gender roles of the early 19th century:
According to Child, a good mother would ask her good husband, the guy with the checkbook, to set aside an amount to spend on each child for the year. This budgeting would reduce the potential for marital discord over unexpected expenses, Child wrote. (Ironically, though Child casts the wife as the potential spendthrift, in her own life, she was the frugal one, married to a spendthrift editor husband. His poor management of the family's finances drove her to higher and higher levels in her own career).
The father would then disburse the amount to the child in quarterly installments. At first, the mother would control most of it, spending it on clothing and other needs, while letting the child choose how to spend or save the remains. Over time, however, the child (insert your teen's name here) would take responsibility for budgeting the entire amount, and produce accurately quarterly reports listing all expenditures. Any shortfalls would be docked from the next disbursement.
If you have a teen who can do this, I know a small firm in need of a good accountant.
In this way, children with allowances would learn bookkeeping and have the chance to practice benevolence by giving some of their money away, Child argued.
Just one warning: no bailouts, not even if the parents mistakenly budgeted too little, Child insisted. Better to add more to next year's budget than cave in during a budget year. "The idea of being helped out of difficulties brought on by thoughtlessness and extravagance, would defeat the express purpose of an allowance," she wrote.
It's a great idea for an older kid. But for the younger set, I think it's fine to start out by simply teaching the value of a dollar.
For good measure, I also periodically blow their minds by mentioning how much people pay for cars, houses and the nebulous necessities, like insurance. I love seeing sticker shock in their young eyes because I have this theory that it in addition to teaching them a sense of mathematical scale, it makes them more grateful for what they have.
And now, my pediatrician wants me to combine that understanding with an allowance--regular income for regular chores.
I hate emptying the dishwasher, changing the laundry, taking out the recycling and all kinds of little chores my kids could do. But I also hate the idea of paying my kids to do anything they should be doing anyway. Note that my 19th-century advisor is with me on this one: Child never suggested that children work for their allowances, only that they take on the responsibility of budgeting their own expenditures.
In fact, a lot of moms are with me on this one. For the most part, my mom pals think kids should be motivated by love and duty when they clean--or at least by our glares and threats, but never by our money.
Still, I do like the idea of my kids doing something to earn money. So I'm going to continue to pay out a few dollars here and there for accomplishments that aren't chores: good scores on tests, individual compliments from their teachers and reading certain challenging books. Maybe I should make The Mother's Book one of them.
By Joan Indiana Rigdon
ForbesWoman Asks: Should Kids Get an Allowance?
Readers: You've read our columnist's view. What's yours?
Should kids get an allowance as a matter of course? If not, under what circumstances should they get it? And at what age is it appropriate for kids to receive money, anyway?
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