Should You Pay Your Kids?

Some parents give an allowance. Others don’t. Some parents pay kids to do chores or tie their allowance to chores. Others don’t. What should you do?

How Old?

Kids Health (from Nemours) suggests that there is no ideal time to start, but the website suggests starting by age 10.

How Much?

How much you give a child will likely depend on the child’s age, your past experience and, quite frankly, your own income level.

Experts recommend children’s weekly allowance be $1 per year of age, according to About.com, which has an interesting allowance calculator that takes your own age into account and tells you the equivalent buying power of that allowance when you were that age.

Why Give an Allowance?

An allowance can be a good way to teach children about earning, saving and spending money. There are even websites like Allowance Manager to help kids track their money.

Advice?

What advice do you, as a parent, have for other parents? What have you found works best in terms of frequency of giving the allowance, how much to give, whether to give it in exchange for chores or not? Share your expertise with your neighbors.