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From: wendya@apollo.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.kids
Subject: On allowances
Message-ID: <21b0751f.708@apollo.uucp>
Date: Mon, 10-Sep-84 17:31:05 EDT
Article-I.D.: apollo.21b0751f.708
Posted: Mon Sep 10 17:31:05 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 14-Sep-84 20:47:53 EDT
Organization: Apollo Computer, Chelmsford, Mass.
Lines: 45


Just as information, I will relate my own (lack of)
experience with allowances. No one in my family (ten
children) ever received an allowance of any kind, nor
were we ever paid for work around the house, grades,
or anything else. This was not from lack of funds --
we got what we needed and whatever "luxuries" were 
deemed appropriate by the management (my mother), 
mostly in the form of lessons of various kinds -- art,
piano, guitar, etc. (As an aside: we had zero say 
in the "necessities" either -- we wore uniforms to
school, and all other clothes were selected by my
mother. No arguments. The only exceptions came when
we were allowed to go through the bags of "charity
clothes" (which my mother collected for the church
rummage sales) before we turned them over to  the church.
Other little details, like hairstyles, spending of
"free time," etc., were similarly tightly controlled.)
The little bit of cash I ever saw as a child came from 
my Sunday morning paper route, which I had for a
few years. (I mean that literally - I almost never saw
actual, physical money.) All family finances, from my father's
income to how much our house was worth, and everything
else, were TOP SECRET. We were never told anything.
As far as household chores and good grades -- these things
were EXPECTED of us as normal responsibilities of
living; we only heard about them if we screwed up.
The thought of being PAID for such things seemed 
absurd, and the idea of an allowance was simply
unimaginable. These rules applied not only when we were
very young, but right up until we eventually left home. 
As far as I know, none of us ever considered all this
extreme, or even unusual, in any way, (until later, of
course), and I, for one, was always astounded by the revelations
of other children about their allowances, "$5 per A, $2 per B"
report card payoffs, etc., and considered these things
as aberations.

I don't have children, so I'm certainly not an authority,
but I don't think this is the way to go. Has anyone else
ever seen things done this way? If so, how did it
turn out?

W. Christensen