Do Kids Need An Allowance?

Last week, my eldest son decided that he needed to earn money in order to buy a lizard (long story) so he opened a "toy store." He set up shop in our backyard with many of his favorite toys and even labeled some of them with price tags pilfered from recent purchases we had made.

We live out in the sticks which means that there were absolutely no customers to be seen. He was a little disappointed about his lack of business but he knows full well how few people come by (unless invited over). I told him that one I returned from my trip to Chicago we would see about maybe instituting an allowance.

I wrote a post on my personal site asking for feedback on the whole allowance topic. As young children, my husband and I never received an allowance. All of our needs were met and our parents were good at saying yes when they needs to...and saying no when they needed to. When I was a teenager, my Mom let me have the $50 per month child support payment that my Dad had to pay for me (He got off easy, I know).

Anything that I wanted to buy had to come out of that $50: Clothes, CD's, movies, candy, etc. I had to learn what I really wanted to spend my money on.

I think that we will institute an allowance of some sort to teach our kids the value of money. We need to hash out the details of whether or not it will be tied to chores, and what amount we should pay them. There are many kids (and adults) nowadays that do not seem to know how to budget or live within their means.

I want my kids to be fiscally responsible and it is my duty to give them the tools to enable them to be that way. I just need to figure out the best way to do so.

Original Canada Moms Blog Post. Angella Dykstra also writes at her personal site Dutch Blitz when she is not spewing her words elsewhere on the Internet (See also: Twitter).