way off topic but need advice

I am providing some personal assistance to a single mother with two kids. Girl 10 and boy 14. As with any kids there is always the need for spending money. The plan is to provide them with an allowance. Not a handout but one earned by doing chores around the house. Cleaning own room, doing dishes and cleanup after meals etc. Question is how many $$ a week should the kids be able to earn as an allowance. I am pretty sure the 25 cents a week I got as a child will not suffice. Question is what do your kids get. What do they do to earn it. Thanks Bill

My 2 teens were getting $5 a week for doing what you describe which isn't enough to buy anything with but its more than a lot of parents that I know pay.When they realized they needed more they got jobs.

We gave my daughter the opportunity to make as much or little as she wanted by placing a monetary value for vacuuming, washing dishes and drying them, dusting, cleaning the bathroom etc. I think she could have made about $30 a week, but very seldom made more than $10-15. lol

an initial thought was $10 a week and deducting for things not done. For reasons I will not get into the kids have had an extremely rough life due to a *(*&%^ father who is on the fringes of the scene now. I don't want to make them rich but would like to try and make up for some of what they have missed over the years. Not that $10 a week is a lot for them but $80 a month is getting up there for me.

I have a grandson who earns money by doing various chores (not here, but at his house). One thing he does is to take out several of the neighbours' garbage cans every week for pickup and then return them at the end of the day. I think he makes something like $40 a month from 4 or 5 neighbours. At home, he will wash his parents vehicles etc. for spending money as well.
Each situation is different, but if $80 a month is out of your reasonable financial reach, try $7.00 a week, or $1 a day for the kids. You need to explain to them the value of money so they understand.

When I was in high school, I worked farms all summer for $10 an hour. Mind you, in 2004, $10 was a lot of money. I also cut my parents lawn and two of my neighbours lawns each week.
My parents paid me $25 to cut it (including weed whacking around all of the gardens/trees/etc. My neighbours paid me $40-$50. Mind you, each lawn would take on average 4 hours to cut and do all the trimming.

When I was younger (8-13 age range) I would make $5 a week from my mom to clean the three bathrooms.

I think rustbucket is right. $5 isn't going to make any kid/teen rich, but it's an incentive to help out around the house and be useful. When they have the desire for more money, they can get a real job.
Helping out around the house shouldn't make anyone rich.

What we did was give them half of their age each week for doing chores; washing dishes, taking out garbage etc.
Eg. When they were 10 they got $5.00 per week. ( they got more as they got older)

I think it's a good idea to start the week or month off with an amount that both you can afford and that makes the kid look forward to having. Then, deduct amounts for not following the house rules. The rules will vary depending on the child age and ability. If your teenage son wants that money to go to the theater on the weekend, he will make sure he makes his bed, doesn't beat up his younger brother, lip off his parents, take out the garbage, cut the lawn etc.Otherwise, they are at you every time they fart rainbows wanting to get a dollar for it. Young kids that do not go out without their parents do not need big amount of money! Toonies are awesome!

It is a funny thing this because we used to give the kids so much and then deduct so much for tasks not done, like how ever much it was to deduct for not making a bed etc, the funny thing was my son used to do pretty well out of it and my daughter would often get not much, now days I wonder if it gave them the right values for my daughter because I feel she sort of took a defeatist attitude and couldn't care where my son would hook in, it didn't work by way of investing the values we wanted to into my daughter about getting things done. All kids are different but for sure maybe it will give them some get up and go, I think back and wonder if what we were doing was a kind of bribery to get things done, it is a hard one but maybe suggesting that they need to help out around the place so you can justify giving them some pocket money in order to help their Mum out. I personally think you need to keep the you side of things out of it wheich is a bloody hard thing to do at times because their Dad is still foating around and make it out that their Mum is the important factor here.

You know what is right for one kid is not for the other and it is hard at time to give them both equal attention all you can do it try and leave to door open so you can have a good relationship with them so they will at least talk to you and then you will have the 2 way dialouge going, let them come to you without being critical of them once again that can be hard to..

Good luck with that though because you are in a tough position on your personal side of that.

I had custody of my kids and Jan was the one who is in your postion in this case, but I think she did a pretty good job with what she had to do with them cosidering their mother was the disruptive one in my situation.

Many thanks to you all for the well put responses. I will be going to BC. for an extended visit before and after the Lethbridge swap meet in Feb. I will sit down with the Lady and talk it over and then get the kids involved with their feelings and ideas. I will have her read this string. Once again, many thanks. Bill

As a part of being in my family the kids are required to contribute to the daily household duties without being paid. They get a weekly allowance, but not for work.

I feel if you pay them to do stuff they should be doing as part of a member of the household, you will train them only to do things for money.....

I think Relic is 100% right ,, If they want to ,make money ,, go to work delivering papers or what ever young kids do according to age. They should do stuff at home just because they live there .. My kids never got an allowance ,, but they helped , cutting lawns , making dinners and they were involved in the Swim club which required delivering catalogues for the club ,, I think it all works out ,,, Just don't let them sit on their butts and play video games , TV or Computers .. I know it's tough But it is for their own good