I have just returned from working with a family with three teenage daughter and they wanted to plan their summer budget. After we worked on their vacation budget, their main concern was keeping their children financially happy during the summer months.
Together we formulated the following plan:
VACATION JOB Finding a vacation job – after the unpaid vacation leave is finishing at the end of June, this is not an easy feat as there is a lot of competition. Also sometimes the teenager is tempted to play computer games or hang out with their friends. Therefore, as an incentive to find a job. I suggested that the parents added a certain percentage to the amount earnt especially if a certain amount is saved.
SUMMER ALLOWANCE The next task we talked about was how much you should they and want to give their kids as a summer allowance. We decided on NIS 500 p/week for each child to be given ONCE A WEEK and not all in one go. If the amount is given in installments the child can budget easier. Then we wrote down exactly what the allowance covers: Primarily it is for enjoying themselves, – Movies – Eating out – Amusement Park – Public transport and taxis – Manicure + pedicure – Clothes.
PARENTS RESPONSIBILITY Even though the parents wrote down what the kids’ summer allowance would cover, I also suggested that they write down what they would pay for: – A family vacation – Family outings – Restaurants – Hairdressers – Beautician – School books pay for: – School uniform
HOUSE CHORES + POCKET MONEY
There are two schools of thought regarding paying your children for doing household chores. One is that you can teach them the concept of work and that running a household is also a team effort. So paying them will help them prepare for adulthood. The second is that If you start paying kids for chores, they might start believing that they should earn money for everything they do. Also, how do you price chores and how do you differentiate amounts between the eldest and youngest child.
It is in my opinion that for everyday household chores the child should be expected to do without being paid. However, if they do chores that you would normally pay somebody e.g. cleaning the car, mowing the lawn they can be paid. My last and final TIP that I gave to my clients is to sit down with the daughters at the beginning of the vacation and talk to them about the summer allowance and household chores.
