I was starting to feel like a loser, so I decided to post this. It was one of my favorite songs in fourth grade. That's back when I used to fall hard for guys with hair like this. I used to sing it all the time and drive my mother nuts.
Saturday, March 3, 2007
Friday, March 2, 2007
Allowances
It's another snow day, and I've been spending some of my time reading different articles on the Internet. I read one claiming that experts say kids should get an allowance, and they should start getting one at age 3-5. Apparently this is supposed to teach them the value of money. The "experts" also say that the allowance should not be linked to chores since this teaches them that the only reason they should do chores is to get money. Once they get real jobs, why continue to do household chores? I can understand that. Children should learn that doing chores is part of helping out the family. But I don't think that kids should get money that they don't earn.
I never got an allowance. When I was about 7 or 8, my mother decided to teach my younger brother and I the value of a dollar by taking us blueberry raking. It worked. We were on a family owned lot and there were several other kids our age who raked as well. My mother's rule was that we had to rake at least one box of berries a day. After that, we could go play in the rows that had already been raked or read a book (which is what I usually did). There were great big boulders in the rows that were fun to play on. She let us keep all the money we earned, but that was all the spending money we got for the entire year. She bought all our school clothes for us, so we got to spend all of it on fun stuff like toys and books.
If you have never raked blueberries, you might not appreciate how difficult it is. You are on flat land with no shade, bending over a rake for hours at a time. When you are finished, everything aches. The berries stain your skin and clothes a dirty shade of blue, and when you try to fall asleep at night, all you can see when you close your eyes are rows of blueberries. I don't know how much you would get paid today, but when I raked I used to get $2.50 a box. The most I ever raked in one day was 11 boxes.
We did this for about 3 years. Mom got a job when my younger brother started going to school all day, and she had to work summers. She paid us a little money during the summer to do extra chores around the house, but it was still only during the summer so that we had to budget our money for a full year. I think that this system worked really well. She still paid for all of my school clothes so that she could very easily keep track of what I was wearing (of course anything extra that I bought and she didn't like she would conveniently "lose" in the wash). I am very responsible with money. I don't know if I would be as responsible with money today if I had learned from an early age that I deserved to get money each week. Maybe I am missing something, but this doesn't make sense to me.
I never got an allowance. When I was about 7 or 8, my mother decided to teach my younger brother and I the value of a dollar by taking us blueberry raking. It worked. We were on a family owned lot and there were several other kids our age who raked as well. My mother's rule was that we had to rake at least one box of berries a day. After that, we could go play in the rows that had already been raked or read a book (which is what I usually did). There were great big boulders in the rows that were fun to play on. She let us keep all the money we earned, but that was all the spending money we got for the entire year. She bought all our school clothes for us, so we got to spend all of it on fun stuff like toys and books.
If you have never raked blueberries, you might not appreciate how difficult it is. You are on flat land with no shade, bending over a rake for hours at a time. When you are finished, everything aches. The berries stain your skin and clothes a dirty shade of blue, and when you try to fall asleep at night, all you can see when you close your eyes are rows of blueberries. I don't know how much you would get paid today, but when I raked I used to get $2.50 a box. The most I ever raked in one day was 11 boxes.
We did this for about 3 years. Mom got a job when my younger brother started going to school all day, and she had to work summers. She paid us a little money during the summer to do extra chores around the house, but it was still only during the summer so that we had to budget our money for a full year. I think that this system worked really well. She still paid for all of my school clothes so that she could very easily keep track of what I was wearing (of course anything extra that I bought and she didn't like she would conveniently "lose" in the wash). I am very responsible with money. I don't know if I would be as responsible with money today if I had learned from an early age that I deserved to get money each week. Maybe I am missing something, but this doesn't make sense to me.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
