Allowance For Chores: Did You Get It? Do You Give It?

In my youth, I did some things around the house. Begrudgingly? Yes. But with limited opportunities to earn money, how else was I supposed to put a few bucks in my wallet? I vacuumed, did some dishes, took the garbage out, shoveled the driveway, that kind of thing. I think my sister earned all her money making sure I didn't burn the house down when Mom wasn't home.

At around age 10, I got $5 a week. By the time I was in high school, I got $20. Unless I had a real job, then I was on my own. But still the same deal, all kinds of chores, for a little bit of money.

When I started considering this subject, I saw a meme that was bagging on millenials who allegedly don't know the value of a dollar. So I started asking around the office to see what other got when they were kids., and what they were currently paying their kids. Unexpectedly, in all age groups, the answers were all over the map.

I put the question out to the Q106.5 Facebook page, and got varied responses. I thought this might be kind of a slam dunk, in the sense that I thought there would sort of be this generational tradition, and that with inflation, kids now were making like $100 a week. Yes, I'm exaggerating, But I just assumed everyone got a cost of living increase, so to speak.

There does seem to be some idea that if you got allowance as a kid, you aren't as quick to give it. And there seems to be some indication that if you didn't get money, you might be the type of parents that are paying out to your kids for chores.

Other parents said that they were paying for their cell phones, or trading chores for screen time for the younger ones. Lots of folks just flat out didn't believe in giving their kids money for chores at all, saying it's just part of living together as a family.

I'm not implying there's any right or wrong answer to this question. I was just genuinely curious. Almost every comment I read online was very thoughtful about the reasons they did, or did not, pay their kids for chores. But I definitely learned that it's not a universal thing in any way.

All I know is that even at my age, if my mom still wants to pay me $20 a week to vacuum and dust, I'll be right there. She doesn't need to know I'd do it for free.