LizzieMaine
Bartender
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I was talking to my 16-year-old niece the other day, and was amazed to discover she's still getting an allowance -- $30 a week. She doesn't have to do anything to get it, it's just paid out and she spends it however she sees fit without any kind of accountability.
I found this kind of jarring, both for the amount and for the fact that she's still getting it at her age. Admittedly, I don't have kids so I'm not up on what the current trends are, but when I was her age I'd already been working for wages for three years. Before that, from the age of eight to ten, I got 50 cents a week from my grandmother -- raised all the way to $3 a week on my eleventh birthday. Even accounting for inflation, I don't think I was given anywhere near the disposable income that my niece gets today.
I got that until I was thirteen -- when it ended and I was expected to hold down a job. I remember being rather upset about this at the time, but in retrospect I think it was a good thing -- it taught me the value of a dollar, and the value of the work that goes into earning a dollar, which is a lesson I think my niece, unfortunately, has really yet to learn.
What do folks here think about this? Did you get an allowance growing up, and if so, for how long? And if you have kids, do you pay allowances?
I found this kind of jarring, both for the amount and for the fact that she's still getting it at her age. Admittedly, I don't have kids so I'm not up on what the current trends are, but when I was her age I'd already been working for wages for three years. Before that, from the age of eight to ten, I got 50 cents a week from my grandmother -- raised all the way to $3 a week on my eleventh birthday. Even accounting for inflation, I don't think I was given anywhere near the disposable income that my niece gets today.
I got that until I was thirteen -- when it ended and I was expected to hold down a job. I remember being rather upset about this at the time, but in retrospect I think it was a good thing -- it taught me the value of a dollar, and the value of the work that goes into earning a dollar, which is a lesson I think my niece, unfortunately, has really yet to learn.
What do folks here think about this? Did you get an allowance growing up, and if so, for how long? And if you have kids, do you pay allowances?