personal choices

as a parent, I prefer to have my kids use crayons and colored pencils — not markers. play with simple, wooden toys. you know me. i was the cloth diapering, baby wearing, breastfeeding, birkenstock wearing mom.

flash forward to the time past diapers and nursing. to the time when the kids get allowance. not allowance for chores. Chores are not to be paid for in our household. As a family, we all must participate in the acts that make it so our family runs smoothly. the girls (11 and 7) pick up (not only their messes), load and empty the dishwasher, make lunch, do the laundry, and so on. Not doing chores equates to fewer fun activities, not a reduction in allowance.

So why allowance? Because other than birthday and Christmas, I don’t buy much for the girls other than clothes. Not that they lack anything. The library provides a constant stream of books, and they have more than enough toys and games. But if they want something more that I feel is extra (Rob or I will sometimes buy a game), they need to use their allowance money.

Chloe tends to spend hers on plastic junk that I really dislike. But that’s the beauty of allowance. She gets to choose what it is she wants (ok, I do have a certain minimal level of veto power). She spent 2/3 of her saved allowance today on her favorite, Littlest Pet Shop. Little Plastic Sh*t to me, but she loves it. And I think these plastic toys help reduce the begging for more live pets….

4 comments