I had my kids start about 9 years old taking out the trash and cleaning out the cat liter box. At about 11 is when they got a lot more chores and finally started to recieve an allowance of $30 a month. Now they do all the dishes (daily), vaccuum (every other day), clean their bathroom (once a week)and help me out with all the gardening. I have heard from some of my friends that their children do just about all the chores. To me that's too much. Kids still need to be kids for a while. Although out of the $30 a month, they pay $10 a month for their cell phones. What's your thoughts?

My youth was strange. I really did not have chores. We all just cleaned up after ourselves, and did our thing. For dusting and things like that, Mom did it. I wasn't spoiled, it was more like Dad thought that if I swept up, I would let go of the broom and scratch the cabinets or something.

For my son, we have tried allowance, but I am not big on that. He has chores as I know kids can sweep without taking out the cabinets! I always thought I should get back into allowance for money management skills, but he goes to work with his dad often, and is paid, so he manages his money from that and I don't make him put all of it in the bank. He can spend some of it and is pretty good at saving up for things like shoes that he "has" to have, or other expensive items I would never buy for him.

I never had an allowance or was paid for doing chores. My first "chore" I can think of was walking the dog and picking up the dog poop from the back yard. I guess I was about 10. Later it was yard work like raking, weeding and cutting the grass, taking the garbage cans to and from the curb. Vacuuming. Sweeping out the garage.

I never got an allowance for doing chores. I just got an allowance. I was raised to clean up after myself and clean when you see something dirty or out of place. My folks weren't going to pay me for that.

Hmmmmm, I don't know if I can think that far back. Seems to me that I was always helping around the house...let's see, I got an allowance when I was 4 of 50 cents a week so I imagine I was already working by then, probably just the light stuff though, drying and putting away the silverware, folding the dish towels, stuff like that. Then when I got a little older and I did the vacuuming and dusting and helped with the yardwork, then it was $1 a week, then when I was 9 it was $2 a week and I was doing the laundry and the dishes, then at 10 when I was mowing the lawn and cleaning the bathroom it was $5 a week, and then finally around 13 it was $10 a week and by that time I did pretty much everything.

Nystyle709 wrote:

I never got an allowance for doing chores. I just got an allowance. I was raised to clean up after myself and clean when you see something dirty or out of place. My folks weren't going to pay me for that.

I know I didn't get any kind of weekly allowance but I can't remember how I got spending money. It was probably on an as needed basis. Show up in front of mom with my hand out, "Pleeeeeeease?" Make that "as wanted"...I didn't need anything that I spent money on (although I didn't think so then.)

i was bout 9/10, i would get $10 a week from my stepdad, when i got to junior high i got about $20 a week.

id do the dishes, clean living, take out trash, clean my room.

Chores were separate from an allowance for my brother and I. We had chores that were age appropriate and contributed to the family. We'd help out wherever was needed.

We got an allowance that didn't hinge on doing chores and if our requests were reasonable and not too often, my parents would usually give us the money we needed when we were younger. Once I started babysitting, I didn't have to ask my parents for money as often.

TSJFan4Ever wrote:

Chores were separate from an allowance for my brother and I. We had chores that were age appropriate and contributed to the family. We'd help out wherever was needed.

We got an allowance that didn't hinge on doing chores and if our requests were reasonable and not too often, my parents would usually give us the money we needed when we were younger. Once I started babysitting, I didn't have to ask my parents for money as often.

This is how it has been for my kids. DS1 takes care of trash and recycling, and DS2 takes care of unloading the dishwasher, and those are their only assigned chores that have to be done daily. Everything else is on an as-needed basis or simply cleaning up after themselves. They have both been doing their own laundry since they were about 12. I ask them to vacuum or clean the toilets every so often. They cut grass in summer and shovel snow in winter. I no longer give DS1 an allowance (he's 19yo), but DS2 gets money weekly and it's not connected to his chores. It's just because he's part of the family and we share things.

I never had assigned chores as a child. I helped out as needed...mostly yard work. I took care of my room and did my own laundry probably by junior high. I vacuumed and dusted, usually of my own accord because I cared more about those things than my parents did. I never got an allowance; I just got money on a random basis when I asked for it. By the time I was 15 I was employed and rarely asked my parents for money.

I started doing chores around eight years old. I vividly remember Halloween 1987; my dad wouldn't let my older sister and me go trick or treating until the leaves were raked. There were a lot of them, it took up hours.

I didn't have a regular allowance. My parents gave me money here and there for chores done, but it wasn't a set thing.