Parents spend $1,360/yr on What??!

[MrsK]

http://www.parents.com/blogs/parents...c=pmmfb1407108

Cash gifts/allowance/bribes to kids under 10! Really? I just started giving K1 a 25-cents/week allowance to stop him from constantly asking me to buy him stuff. And before I did that, I considered long and hard whether I'd be willing to give him an annual raise. Now he can decide whether he wants to blow his allowance on goat food or save it up for a bag of ninjas at the dollar store.

[PrincessFiona]

My teens are lucky if we give them $10 to see a movie or something. No allowance for anyone. We've gotten pretty cheap.

[Pollyanna]

That's odd, I know no one that hands out that kind of cash.

[Ladybug]

It's $25 per week-ish. I might spend that per month (not evenly) on treats, yogurts, heck four drinks and bags of chips at the gas station to keep people from complaining while I run errands through dinner is 12 plus bucks right there. We spend $25 per birthday party gift, and I have four kids. I'm not complaining, and these are all fun extras we've worked hard to provide. I just think we all spend a lot more than we realize. We just don't think of it in the large annual sums.

[MrsK]

It's $25 per week-ish. I might spend that per month (not evenly) on treats, yogurts, heck four drinks and bags of chips at the gas station to keep people from complaining while I run errands through dinner is 12 plus bucks right there. We spend $25 per birthday party gift, and I have four kids. I'm not complaining, and these are all fun extras we've worked hard to provide. I just think we all spend a lot more than we realize. We just don't think of it in the large annual sums.

Right, but this article is about flat out cash given to kids under 10 on top of those expenses.

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[Ladybug]

Well, I don't take the time to do allowances, but I do spend that much (collectively, not individually) on stuff, food bribes, toys, cash for chores, etc. I guess in the end I was seeing that all shake out, but less through their own hands. I'm not sure how they would spend $113 a month but I'm sure they would be willing to try. Lol.

[SuzySunshine]

My kids get their age per week, have to put $.50 to charity and $.50 to their gift fund which buys Chrismas gifts for their siblings and whoever else.


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[JDAZ11]

There was a pretty good article in the wsj today about raising unspoiled children. Made me think of this post.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/unspo...ded-1405210274

[samssugarmomma]

We just started giving an allowance to ours. They get .25/year in age. They also get penalties for complaining about doing their chores. So far we haven't had to hand out very much $$ cause my kids are complainers!

[HouseofWool]

Parents spend $1,360/yr on What??!

I am way too broke to give an allowance. DS11 has a job delivering papers on Sundays. He earns $0.05 a paper, roughly $5/week. Of that, he is required to put half in savings for college.

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

That article was excellent, thanks for posting. I really liked the idea of openly discussing what makes someone a good friend (ie not money) as well as saying the budget for this item is X when it's for the child and then helping them compare products. I think it's easy for kids to say "I need cleats/new outfit/toy, etc" and not understand that these things cons at different price points and values.

[JDAZ11]

That article was excellent, thanks for posting. I really liked the idea of openly discussing what makes someone a good friend (ie not money) as well as saying the budget for this item is X when it's for the child and then helping them compare products. I think it's easy for kids to say "I need cleats/new outfit/toy, etc" and not understand that these things cons at different price points and values.

I thought it was really good too - but I don't have kids, so it's kind of hard me to say, "oh this is exactly what you should do." Anyway, if someone can't read it and wants me to send them a PDF, let me know.

[scrub-jay]

Parents spend $1,360/yr on What??!

This tone of this article is yet another in the "criticize and judge" trend in parenting today. We all have different parenting styles, can't we all get along?

I won't bribe my kids, but I do plan on allowing them to earn money doing chores, specifically chores that are in addition to normal (unpaid) household responsibilities. I was raised this way and I learned that if I wanted more money, I needed to work more. My parents never gave me "fun" money, that was all earned/saved.

[JDAZ11]

Parents spend $1,360/yr on What??!

I really don't think my parents did the best job ever teaching me about money. They tried the allowance thing a few times, and paid me really well for grades, but they almost never said no to "fun" money. They did talk to me about saving for retirement - which I thankfully started doing after one year out of college, but that's basically it.

If I hadn't been a student in NYC, I don't think I'd be able to budget at. (It also probably helps that i married a very cheap man!). I probably shouldn't say this because it's a public forum, but I truly believe that my sisters are entitled brats (I love them, but they are just absurd with spending).

I know my parents were super busy, but like the article discussed, I think they often used money to make up for time not spent with us. And they totally would have bought me the more expensive cleats (but they may also have to do with almost unhealthy pressure they placed on us athletically).

Anyway, I'm saving that one - just in case it's relevant some day!

[Ladybug]

This thread has caused an arguement between DH and I. We discussed this thread and allowances (which we don't practice because I'm not organized and I don't carry cash). DH started waxing poetic about how he learned from his middle class parents about saving, wants vs needs, via his childhood allowance. DH has never managed a single financial account that he has no idea what a single child's expenses are or what our income/debt balance is. He's financially ignorant…of the world, business and personal finances. In response I said that we (and his parents) covered our children's needs, so allowances are about prioritizing wants, assuming those are financially limited. I said that poor children also understand the value of the dollar…they just don't have the resources that our children have. It's not the allowances, or amounts, that are determining these situations and outcomes…it's the access to top education resources, those inherent community connections, financial supplements, neighborhoods, etc. I told DH he's holding onto a highly-held middle class ideal that hard work, allowances and good values = financial upward mobility. I told him there plenty of people that work more than he does for less, and plenty that work less for a lot more money. DH grew up with rigidly monitored allowances and he's the most financially uneducated person I know, but he emotionally clings to those memories. I had semi-regular allowances growing up, but I've still struggled with compulsive behaviors as an adult which play out financially, naturally. Money management is just a refelction of those deeper behaviors. I don't do allowances, but I can already tell you which kids struggle with compulsive behaviors based on eating habits, interrupting, hitting/fighting patterns, etc. I'm working with them through their various "vices" but they could play out later monetarily regardless of allowances.

Sorry for the tangent