Allowance??

Growing up, I always got an allowance each month and used it to purchase toys, candy, or whatever I thought was important at the time. ;-) My allowance was linked to the chores that I did for my parents and if they were not completed, I would not receive allowance. My husband received money from his parents without it being attached to chores. He feels that children should learn to do chores simply to contribute to the family and not to receive money. What is your opinion? How much of an allowance is appropriate each month?

This is a great question and I am so looking forward to reading everyone's input. I really like your husbands idea Julie about everyone contributing to the family, just because they are part of the family.  I think this helps build cohesiveness within the family context.  It also builds a pride within the family so far as everyone contributing-much like any other team that you may have been a part of.  "We all play for the team", do you see the pride that is built with sporting teams?  

I do see that there should be a work ethic built in as well though, although it may be that work ethic can be created through working toward the good of the family.

So far as amount of money, I think I heard from one mom that kids should get 1$ per year of age, so a 7 year old should get 7$...or it could be more or less, such as 25 cents per year of age.  Depends on what the allowance is covering.

I look forward to hearing others thoughts on this.

-Jess

My husband and I had this argument as well. Ultimately it took too much time to keep track of who did what chores and for what money...so what I decided to do was to tell the kids that they got $5 each week as long as they did everything mommy asked them to do. This means that they must take out the trash, watch their siblings, do the dishes etc. if I ask them to do it without whining or complaining. This way they get their allowance, but they get used to listening to me as well!