Kids' allowances: When did they begin in U.S.?

 

In Sterling North's "Rascal," he tells of how no kid in his 1918
Wisconsin town had an allowance, and he considered himself lucky to
keep the money he earned doing chores for neighbors!

More later, but I wanted to ask: Does anyone know when no-strings
allowances became common?

Lenona.

 

On Sat, 16 Jan 2010 08:36:52 -0800 (PST)


When did common sense become uncommon?  You'll find the two dates
coincide.  -Dave

 

On Sat, 16 Jan 2010, Dave C. wrote:


Well no.  One reason for having allowances (and no, I don't know when they
started happening, or when they became common) is that it teaches the
child about money.

They get some money they can spend, they choose what to spend it on, but
have to live with the results.  If they want something more expensive,
then they have to deal with that, saving up (all of their weekly allowance
if they want it fast, a percentage of their weekly allowance if they can
live with getting the item slower).  It can cause them to get their first
bank account (and if you did that early enough, the concept of
"interest").  It helps them to learn about money, and it gives them a
certain independence.

Otherwise, they are just asking the parents for this and that, and
certainly aren't paying attention to what they are spending.

    Michael

 

On 1/16/2010 6:00 PM, Michael Black wrote:

If a child wants to learn about money, he/she can do extra chores to
earn it.  That would truly teach them about money.  Giving them free
handouts every week, without doing anything for it, just teaches them
that welfare is a good thing.

Marsha

 



Right. I don't know anyone who had a non-strings allowance for their
kids. So the basic contention of this topic, I think, is wrong.