How much weekly allowance do you give your kids under 10 years old? What kind of chores do they do?

Answer 1

Our daughter gets an "allowance" once a month. It's usually based on what she does. It's not always monetary either. Sometimes she wants a game or movie or something like that.

Her chores are: feeding the dogs out twice a day, letting them outside before and after school, helping put dirty dishes in the dishwasher/clean off the table, taking care of her room/making the bed and once a week, she has to clean the bathroom. Nothing major, just wipe the counter off, make sure things are where they belong, put the extra roll of toilet paper out.

How much of these chores she does decides how much her "allowance" is. Usually, it's anywhere from $5-20. She actually likes helping out. I always tell her that her main responsibility is doing well in school. She always does that, so rewarding her isn't a problem for me. I think all kids should be praised and rewarded when they do well in all areas.

Answer 2

First, in our house, you do chores because you're a part of the family and everyone pitches in. The kid in our house takes out the garbage and recyclables as needed and to the street for collection. He keeps his room fairly neat, makes sure his dog is fed and walked and also helps empty the dishwasher. His very first chore at about three was to wash his hands and help sort the silverware into the drawer. He thought it was great fun back then...
We give an allowance as an allowance, not as payment for a job. The kids job is school, for which knowing things and good grades are the payment. My 11 year old is campaigning for more this year because he will be 12 next month but for the last two years he's gotten 5.00 a week. Before he turned 10, he got 4.00. That does come with strings though. Each week he sets aside 1.00 for charity. He can choose wherever he wants to donate. He takes some to school when they have a fundraiser, he's donated to the raptor center, the hurricane Katrina fund, the Red Cross and various other programs. Also required of his allowance is that he save 1.00 for a long term. He uses that money for bigger things that he might want like PS2 games that cost more when he's not willing to wait for his birthday or Christmas. The other 3.00 he spends pretty much however he wants. We feel that's plenty because we pay for everything else and he doesn't really go anywhere on his own yet.

Answer 3

Well, I know times have changed, but when I was little, my mom would give me a nickel for keeping my room clean for a week. That phase didn't last very long.

Anyway, under 10? Depends on how old. If they're under 5, I don't think an allowance is really needed yet. There really aren't many chores kids around 5 can do. If they're older, then something small like keeping their rooms clean does seem easy enough for them to do. I think around $0.50 is good for now. The kids are still at that age where they will need to rely on you for things they really need and want...and for most things, at this age, I think you should be the one to decide if the things they want are appropriate. Unless you teach the kids how to spend, they'll probably want to spend it just as fast as they receive the money. You can always increase the allowance later, when you see fit. But it'll be harder to take away money (or even increase the allowance) if you start out high. (If you start out with $10, by the age of 15, you could end up giving them $50/week!)

Since they're young, they shouldn't need much of their own spending money yet. When they're older and can do more chores, then you can increase at that time, or however/whenever you see fit.

You can have them try to help you out around the house in little ways. If you're making a bed, have the kids help you... Things like that. If you feel they're responsible enough then you can have them help you out with bigger chores. Setting the table...clearing the table... Taking out the trash...

Answer 4

We don't give them a weekly allowance. The two oldest ones 12 and 9 need to learn responsibility without expecting a reward. They were beginning to do extra chores just because they wanted more money. I want them to learn that they are doing them to help out and not so much for money. They get money here and there and if they want to rent a movie or game we do so. They are far from being deprived!

Answer 5

I don't believe a child should get paid to clean their own home. However, if the child goes out of their way and does something not asked, I will reward with money or a cheap trip out somewhere. Right now my girls are 6 and 8. I do expect them to clean their rooms, make sure they put away their dirty clothes. I have them feed the cat as a chore, empty bathroom trash, help unload the dishwasher(no knives), and help straighten up the toys that are kept in the living area. The way i see it, no one paid them to make a mess so they shouldn't have to be paid to clean the mess.

Answer 6

I give my children a dollar a week for how old they are. They also know though that out of this they have to save 10 %, give 10% to charity, and the rest is theirs to do what they wish. I figure how can you teach your children to mange money if they dont get enough money to manage. Figuring out what ten percent is, is a good math lesson. Their chores rotate every week, they always have to keep their rooms clean and all that, but then the rest vary depending on their age. Good Luck! It is hard being a good parent!

Answer 7

my girls are 4 and 5 and i tell them if they keep there room cleaned then they can each of two dollers every saturday. And i take them to the $ store. I think that half there age is a good weekly allowance. (I never even got one) but if they are 10 then a good weekly allowance is $5.

Answer 8

We have a pretty big house so if i vaccumed the tile and carpet i got 5$ because it was once a week clean the room should be 0 $ because they should do that anyways. Doing dishes i got 10$ weekly i got anywhere from 15$ to 20$.

Answer 9

When I was that age, my parents gave me $10-$20 every saturday for every week. I usually mowed the lawn, cleaned my room, helped around the house, and took care of the pets. Washing dishes is a good chore too, especially if later on they get a job in the restaurant industry bc I was a dishwasher at a Steakhouse and it helped alot!

Answer 10

My oldest is 5 years old and we don't give him actual money. My wife and I created our own system of payment. We give him "Way To Go! dough". He has a chore list and gets a certain about of WTGD everytime he does a chore. At the end of each day he can use some of his earned WTGD to buy something from a set list my wife and I created. On the list is things like notebooks, pencils, candy, small toys, game time on the computer, etc. For instance, with 20 Way to Go bucks he can buy 30 minutes of game time on the computer. With 15 WTG bucks he can buy himself a small toy which we have put in the store :o)
Some of the chores are help load/unload the dishwasher, feed the dog/cats, help make dinner (he likes doing that), etc.
My wife and I buy stuff and add it to the list for him to buy from the Way to Go! Store with his Way to Go! Dough.
We originally created it to reward him for good/positive behavior but decided to add chores to the list for him to earn more WTGD.
This is something my wife and I created. He really likes it too! And we don't have to give him actual money.
When he gets older we will begin giving him actual money but for now we stick with this system we created because it's fun:o)