I’d like to request some advice on the topic of allowance.
My wife and I have nine children, with our tenth due this next month. Our oldest is going to be fourteen this year. We have seven sons, and two daughters.
My wife and I have never instituted a system for allowance. We’ve established the general ethos in our home that our children would understand themselves and their chore work as part of the family economy. But as my kids get older, it begins to weigh on me that I be deliberate in teaching financial stewardship. It also seems good to me to start to show my kids what it is to receive a tangible return on their work.
While we haven’t done allowance, we have tried to introduce some other ways to earn money. We’ve allowed our kids to do some odd “extra” jobs for a little money here and there. My older boys also took a job mowing the neighbor’s lawn last year, which has been a really great experience on receiving a wage. The boys also shovel the driveway for our elderly neighbors, and while we do it out of kindness with no expectation of reward, the neighbors have rewarded the boys with cash a few times. So the boys are starting to get a small taste of what it is to be enterprising. When my oldest turns 14 next year, we also aim to have him start working part time doing lawn care and snow removal under the authority and tutelage of some of the men of the church, who do that for a living.
Anyway, what are ya’lls thoughts on the topic of allowance? Do you give an allowance for your kids? If so, how do you do it? How do you do it differently across different child age ranges? Or what other types of things do you do in your household to introduce your children to work, money, and stewardship?