They spent about 45 min looking at EVERY SINGLE toy in the whole store before making their decisions. Josh chose a tool set, and Halle chose a set of play food for her kitchen. Josh's tool set came as no surprise, he LOVES that kind of stuff. But Halle hasn't played with her kitchen in FOREVER. (maybe from the lack of food) So we were a little surprised by her choice. When we got home she said to Rusty, "Dad, I've been thinking about this, and dreaming about this. It's like a dream come true!" Apparently toy hot dogs and ice cream cones are what her dreams are made of. Who knew.
We NEVER buy the kids toys except at bdays and Christmas, and it has been great for me as well. They took their new stuff to the basement, and I haven't seen them for two days.
But I'm curious what other people do with allowance. Do you have any tips to share??
4 comments:
We give our kids allowance based on their age (our 11 year old gets $4, our 10 year old gets $3 and our eight year old gets $2). This is partly due to their age and partly due to the amount of responsibility they're given at home. Each of them has to make their bed in the morning and clean up their rooms, help with keeping the house clean and fold their own laundry. However, our oldest also helps with dishes every night as well as vacuuming our upstairs (we have hardwood floors, so she only has a few rugs to vacuum). Our middle child is responsible for dusting (where he can reach). Our youngest has to vacuum the family room downstairs. Their allowance can be decreased for not doing their duties (or for me having to go over and redo their poorly done duties!), though we have promised to never take it fully away (reduce by $1 at a time). The kids have been super helpful with their chores and almost never lose any of their allowance.
My entire family is still learning about tithing (my husband included!) as they used to attend a church of another denomination (not wanting to point it out due to not wanting to offend!) that didn't teach about the tithe ... they passed the plate and you just put some amount in. So, being we are still learning, I know it's still hard for our kids to want to give 10% of their allowance in church, but my husband and I are really encouraging them to do so (we will never force them to). Once they save enough, we usually end up taking a trip to Target and spending an abundance of time in the toy aisles - but it's typically well worth it! :)
Thanks for the post - it's really fun to see what other parents are doing regarding allowance (and sorry for such a wordy and long response!!)!
Letting them pick out their own toys may be the way to go. It saves all the time wondering what they really want. And they pick things that you would never really guess sometimes. If only there was a way to do at Christmas. I love all your posts.
I would return that Food set as fast as you can. I can't even count how many times and how often I pick it all up . . . and the "speghetti" is gross looking. But then again they play with it all the time!
I'm a mean mom. I don't give my kids any money. They get to help do all the work because they get to live here and eat our food. At school Landon's teacher asked them to write down three goals for the year. One of his goals was to start a company. If our kids want money they have to do extra jobs. Am I mean??
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