Burdge's Do Allowance!

Okay, okay, so we have now officially began to give our kiddos allowance as one of our family traditions.
A bit of our history, we have never been very good at the whole "organizing each kiddo, the money, what they should/shouldnt get, to "give or not to give, based (or not based) on chores etc.."

These have been some of the many questions that have gone though our minds and kept us from fully embracing this thing called allowance....

But then we found hope. As in my sidebar, I am reading Dr.Leman's ( GREAT!) parenting book "Making Children Mind Without Loosing Yours.." And he has wonderfully practical advice and tips on, you guessed it, allowance...

So, we are basing our allowance as a way to help develop and encourage:
accountability and responsibilty.
As he points out in his book, we do not base the kids getting allowance on chores. Rather, the chores go hand in hand with being members of our household, and therefore like chores, allowance is given, because as a member of our house, we "budget" for each member to have some spending (and saving) money...

One of the concepts I loved most about his ideas, is that for instance, one is not "paid" for chores.

Rather, chores are expected to be done . The family can decide on the chores at a family meeting. Nonetheless, allowance is not completely free of responsibilities, and therefore as memeber of our family, we all have our chores to help the home run smoother.

There are also some great practical ideas for avoiding "chore battles."
For instance, when a chore doesn't get done in the right time, (or with the right heart), Mom or Dad may have to assign someone else (or select a volunteer) to the chore (therefore the child that didnt get his chore done, has to literally pay someone else (or money put back into the family budget) for incomplete work (so someone else can get the job done..)Sounds kinda like life huh?

This is where the strategic planning between allowance and chores comes in and I personally really liked it!

Of course there are many ideas and encoragement for saving, tithing, spending (yes, let them get what they want with the money that is theirs :) , accountability, and handling money.The goal is to create a safe environment where they can test and learn.
(We decided to give allowance once per month (first Fri of every month...)


So, there it is. Some tid bits on allowance. We will let ya know how it goes!

So, you may be asking "okay, jenny what did the kids think of this and what did they buy with their first bit of allownace?" They LOVED it!!!!

Arian: Ordered a pizza from a local restaurant (and had it delivered!) It was great watching him plan and look forward to this ALL day!!!! The rest, he tucked away to save.
Aden: bought some candy at the Kiosko (candy store)
Alec: Bought a chocolate egg (with a little toy inside)
Audrey: Candy and Push pop.
( the 3 lil ones still have some left too....So they are learning about saving...

Ohhhh, the days of making those first big purchases!

Love, Jenny