Money and kids
Emma and I got into a discussion today about Playmobil, particularly about the Playmobil greenhouse set. She’s had a chance to play with it once when we were at a potluck over a month ago, and apparently she’s been thinking about it off and on ever since. She really enjoys Playmobil whenever she’s had a chance to play with it (which is not all that often, really) and she used her birthday money to buy her first Playmobil set. However, now she’s out of birthday money, and Christmas seems a very long way away. I’m rather wondering how to handle this sort of thing. When she was younger, generally asking for a toy was a spur of the moment thing and 99% of the time I said no and that was that. She was content to play with Christmas and birthday toys, and really didn’t have much desire for anything else - or at least lasting desire. I might buy a seasonal toy here and there (for example, new sandbox tools at the beginning of summer) but that’s about all I would buy for her outside the Christmas/birthday sphere.
On one hand it seems rather limited to only get toys on Christmas and her birthday (especially since they are only two months apart) but I don’t really like the alternative of buying stuff because she’s been wanting some particular thing for awhile. That seems like a dangerous precedent and not particularly wise either. So… either we come to terms with one of these schemes, or we need to start considering that age old parenting tool of the allowance. The only other option I can think of (other than to continue to lose teeth, which as Emma pointed out is rather unpredictable as a revenue stream and does come to an end at some point) is cash for special jobs, which seems like it would be of limited use for someone her age.
So, hmm. Food for thought. I’ve been reading some articles online about the subject, and I’m thinking I’m not exactly in step with mainstream thought on the matter. The idea of a dollar per year of age per week seems like a ridiculous amount of money for an allowance! Some of the other recommendations just don’t seem particularly appropriate or applicable either. Has anyone figured out something that works well for them - or read anything particularly useful?
Emily on 03 May 2008 at 8:19 pm #
My parents used the “payment for odd jobs” method. I think when we were little they sort of made up things for us to do. As we got older I remember doing the chores that no one wanted - like washing the car!
My husband’s family used the allowance system. I don’t remember how much they got each week, though. What’s the reasoning for $1 per week per year of age? Could you do something like 10 cents or a quarter per week per year of age? That might be more reasonable.
Although my parents and my in-laws used different methods, they both were VERY serious about tithing, giving, and saving. Every dollar that I earned as a child was paid to me in coins, and I had little cups marked SAVE, SPEND, GOD (i.e. tithe), and SHARE. 50 cents were saved (we used this for buying birthday and Christmas presents, and for occasional BIG items that we saved up for), 10 cents each to tithe and share (this was giving to charity other than the church) and 30 cents was spendable as we chose. I liked the system as a child, and when I grew up I was grateful for the early training. I don’t have a hard time giving or saving, now, and I really think that is just because I got into the habit.
Oh, to be able to save 50 percent of our income now!!
amber on 03 May 2008 at 10:09 pm #
Thanks for your comment, Emily! I have no idea what the rational is for the $1/week/yr of age, but I have seen it in numerous articles. I definitely want to do the save/spend/tithe/give categories, I think that is so important.
I had an allowance growing up (although I don’t think it started until I was 7) but there was very little guidance as to what to do with it - at least as far as I remember! My mom could veto what it could be spent on, but I don’t remember much more than that. I ended up being quite the tightwad, and saved as much as I possibly could. I’m not sure if this was because there wasn’t much that I wanted, or because my mom was still willing to buy stuff for me, making it so that I didn’t really need to touch my allowance all that much.
We also did the money for big jobs sort of thing, but not until I was at least 12 or so (again, as far as I remember!) - the one I remember the most was washing all the windows (inside and out) and the screens. That’s was a big job and didn’t need to be done all that often, but it was lucrative!