Weekly Allowance for a 6-Year-old?

Just a little about me i have a five year old and a 2year old. When my five year old started school this year we deceided to start him on an allowance. he gets five dollars a week. he feeds the dog, does all homework and help get the trash cans out of the bathrooms for me. it has worked out very well for us. when he wants something we save for it. i also do two dollars for my two year old i found out really QUICK that you can not give money or anything to one with out the other. i also do a savings bond when the get to 25 dollars. i feel it will help out later in life.

Hi A., I have not gone through that stage yet...mine are 2 years and 10 months, so we have a while. I am planning on using the advice that Dave Ramsey suggests. He has a program for kids that encourages them to save, spend,and give. I think his logic is the best I have seen. Another thing he emphasises is that children should not GET an allowance, but should EARN a commission. Just a simple word change and it puts a different spin on it.

http://www.daveramsey.com/etc/cms/kids_teens_money_5195.h...

Hope that helps... I wish my mom had done something like this with me...we have learned the hard way and are looking to do differently with our kids, as you are.

K.

Hi, I have a seven year old son, but he's been on allowance since he was 6. I use the EasyChild software offered through Encourage. I bought it on their website, and it's a really valuable tool for parents. It not only teaches the value of a dollar, but it also will reward good behavior with tokens (you set it all up according to age of child, behaviors, etc), and it also takes away from allowance, etc when the child misbehaves. I strongly believe that children should learn the value of a dollar, and that they should help out around the house, so that simple things aren't taken for granted. My son is very helpful around the house; he takes out the trash, cleans his own bathroom, cleans the litter box (which I am very picky about: the container has to be washed and scrubbed thoroughly) and he folds his and his brother's laundry and puts it all away neatly. He even offers to help me with dishes, my laundry, and vacuuming. I am not running a sweat shop here or anything by any means...maybe it helps that he's the mama's boy of my two!! LOL. But he definitely has a good understanding of what things cost, and the work that has to be done to achieve those things. Once every couple weeks, he can choose to spend his money, or he can save it, and I don't give in either...so if a toy costs even as little as $.50 more than he has, I refuse to give in, and tell him he can save what he has until next payday and then we can go buy it. With that software payday is once weekly. The software is VERY easy to use, fully customizable, and can be tailored to fit your and your family's needs! You can see it here: http://easychild.com/
Good Luck!!!
A.

i have a 13 yo girl and 8 yo boy...they have a chore list on the frig...for every day during the week that they do their chores properly, they get paid (.50 for 8 yo and 1.00 for 13 yo)...of this, they get to keep half to spend and half to save...they each have savings accts at my bank and i just go in and transfer the right amount each friday to their accts (i know it sounds silly to transfer 1.25 and 2.50 each week but my bank doesnt charge so i might as well)...so far they each have built up quite a little nest egg...of the money they get to keep, i monitor what they spend it on...i dont let them blow it on candy or silly items...i am trying to teach them to be responsible now so they know what to do when they get older...i hope this helps you out...:)

M.

Being a single mom definiteley makes money tight for me and my 6 year old daughter, so what I did was get her involved. Whenever she would ask for things that she just WANTED SO BAD and didn't really need, I would say "Do you have the money for that?" When friends or family would give her a dollar or two she would spend it on unecessary things then be sad when it was gone. So I told her, you have to learn how to manage money. I let her open up a savings account at my bank and she loves it. Even though she may not understand the full concept, she always wants to put money in her account, and only wants to spend it on NEEDS. One day I asked her did she want to stop at a fastfood place to eat, and she said "Mommy, we have food at home to eat. That's a waste of money." I was so happy and impressed because she showed me that she is indeed learning. Long story short, just be open and honest and get her involved. Don't forget to include that after you take care of your needs, it's ok to enjoy your money too. (in moderation) YOU know what works best for your child and how to talk to her. If you don't want to do the account at your bank, start with a penny bank at home in their room. If you have any other questions, you can email me here, or ____@____.com Sorry for the long response....

you could try weekly allowance. you can also try a electronic bank. my son has one and we gt it for like 15 bucks at ross. but it is like a atm in a way. u have a card and a secrt code for ur card u use wen u want to put money in and take it out. also counts it for you so u know how much u have. my son also has a bank account. some schools have a program for it it teaches the kids value of money. my son loves goin to the bank and givin the teller money, makes him feel like a grown up in a way.

I have an almost 8 yr old who does not get an allowance. She has money from birthdays, etc that she puts either in her piggy bank at home or in her bank account at our bank. When she sees something she wants I ask her if she's got the money for it. Sometimes she buys it sometimes not. Her school does scholastic book orders and if she wants that she has to buy it. We talk about what she wants, why she wants it, how much it costs, etc. Most time she loses interest and doesn't buy it.
As a child I was given an allowance but it wasn't 'pay' for doing chores. I had chores that I had to do because I lived in the house with everybody else. We all worked together to make the house nice but the work was never labeled as a 'chore'. It was something that needed to be done so we did it (mow lawn, rake leaves, shovel snow, clean our room, dust, vacuum, wash dishes, do laundry) and everybody did everything, no one task 'belonged' to any person. This is how I'm trying to raise my kids.
I'm sure in the next couple of years we'll start an allowance and it won't be much but it will teach her saving habits.

Dave Ramsey has some great kid budgeting ideas as well as adult advice. Check out his website at daveramsey.com

D.