How Often Do You Give Your Kids an Allowance? Here’s What Other Parents Are Doing

Deciding when and if to give kids an allowance can be a big parenting decision, let alone deciding how much to give. A new study reveals how many parents are willing to pay for chores and how often.

Parenting app S’moresUp recently asked nearly 600 parents of kids ages five to 13 about how they handle chores and allowances in their families. The findings revealed that kids are growing up a little differently than their parents did when it comes to household responsibilities.

Photo: andibreit via Pixabay

A whopping 40 percent of parents surveyed said that they gave their kids no chores. (We have to ask: who is cleaning their rooms?!) Of those who did assign chores in exchange for an allowance, 30 percent of parents paid their kids four times a month, or basically once a week.

Deciding whether to pay out an allowance or not varied between parents: moms are less likely to dole out the dollars compared to dads. Forty-one percent of moms responded they don’t give out allowances while only 31 percent of dads don’t.

Despite the promise of being rewarded, getting kids to actually do their chores wasn’t necessarily any easier. The majority of parents—80 percent—said their kids needed constant reminders to finish their chores. Meanwhile, 60 percent of dads and 70 percent of moms said that they had to remind their kids of their chores daily.

—Shahrzad Warkentin

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