On allowances

On Allowances

People ask me all the time what I think about allowances. I understand that children need money. The simple fact is that I don’t believe in giving away money for no reason.

I created a transportation box where I keep singles inside. If someone needs to get to school early (like the thirteen year old or the twelve year old) and it’s raining and they can’t walk or ride their bike...they can take the transportation money and they have to leave a note of how much they took and their name.

If someone needs money for school supplies, Friday lunch because they are staying late, or such I am happy to help out! We are family! It’s what we do!

But if someone wants to buy a play station game, well that's money that they need to earn, and they earn that money by doing jobs which they earn points for. The point’s equal dollars and they can turn in their points for purchases whenever they want! (Actually now we hold some points back for those who have a tendency to break other people’s important and valuable items while not asking for permission to use them).

An allowance for no reason.....just doesn't sit right with me when earning money if a great opportunity to offer a child a chance to earn for themselves. To believe in themselves, to reach a goal for themselves, to value how hard they worked for their points and care more about how they are going to spend their money.

Knowing that every child is not motivated the same way, our family offers a lot of opportunities to earn points easily.....Points are offered up for kindness, my children traded points this week to bring pennies for peace to school, points that are offered in contests, points that are traded in for a EARTH DAY project and tree planting.

I am proud of my children as they earn points and make purchases!