Rebecca Eckler

It was a Saturday when my daughter asked me when she’s going to start getting allowance. I had promised her, a few weeks earlier, that when she turned eight, I would start giving her an allowance. I had told her I’d give her one dollar for every year of her life. At eight, she’d get $8 a week.

I know giving children an allowance is beneficial for many reasons. First, it will teach her to save. I, hope, too that it teaches her how much things cost. She has no concept of money, and frankly, doesn’t really seem to care. Which is why it took her weeks to remember that I had promised her allowance in the first place (I had forgotten too).

Also, when I told her about the one dollar for every year approach to getting allowance, she said, “so when I’m 120 years old, I’ll get a hundred and twenty dollars?” She also really doesn’t need the money. Case in point? When she asked when she was going to start getting allowance, I told her to pick a day, and that will be the day she gets allowance. (As I said, it was Saturday.)

My daughter said she wanted her allowance on Fridays. Then she asked what day it was, and, really, it didn’t even bother her that she picked a day that was almost a week away, when she could have picked Saturday, which meant I would have to hand over her allowance that day.

The other day, she mentioned that she wanted something and I said: “That would be a great thing for you to save for with your allowance.” Now it’s three days later and I can’t for the life of me remember what that thing was and neither can she. So, obviously, whatever it was wasn’t that important to her. Mostly the girl just wants her eight bucks, in change, so she can use the automated change counter my nanny bought her for her birthday. While my daughter is really quite good at math (that doesn’t come from me!) and she knows the difference between a quarter and a dime and a toonie, she really has no use for money at this age.

Which makes me question this concept of allowance. What are the rules? Do you pick a day and stick with it? What if you both forget that week to ask or give allowance? Do you make up for it immediately, or, like a prescription, just wait until the next week to get it?

Is Friday a good day to give allowance, or is there a better day? Is it my responsibility to remember allowance day or is it hers? And how do you give the money? In change (like she probably wants) or do I give a bill and change? And when exactly does she use this allowance? Weekly? Monthly? Do I hand it to her, or do I sit down with her and say, “here’s your allowance!”

I tell you, it's much less confusing to get allowance then it is to give it. Thoughts? Advice?

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