ALLOWANCES - Good or Bad? OR How do you encourage your kids to make $$$?

spoken like a true goat addict

My husband and I owned a business. When our daughter wanted money, I put her on the payroll. She answered phones and waited on customers. It was funny to see a customer come in and ask for her, after talking to her on the phone. Up would pop this kid, they were expecting someone 30 years old. She sure hated the taxes taken out of her check.

Rachel is getting ready to get a dose of life
The entire check from the state fair was made out to her
I'm fixing to get our cut
All the dogs need a vet visit

Oh. Yeah that happens for shows and in your case that should be part of her allowance. I have a deal with my parents that this summer I will care for their meat birds in exchange for 3 to show and sell at County Fair.

When my kids were young they did get a small allowance for doing some basic chores but when I opened a consignment store for children's clothing and toys that all changed. My kids started going to garage sales with my mom and they would buy toys, bring them home and clean them and then resell them at my store. I never took my share from their sales since they were cleaning them and shopping for them. It was a great way for them to make some money and learn that it "takes money to make money".

@babsbag, @OneFineAcre, @Southern by choice, @Baymule, and everyone else (sorry for not getting everyone by name) - You all have/have had some GREAT ideas. My eldest sister says that DH and I are doing our children a disservice since we cannot afford to send them to college. She took out big loan $$$ to send her 2, and paid them off herself. She says all parents "owe it to their children" to provide them with an education, including college, I say she's nuts. Mama tried to help me, I had a 1/2 scholarship (academic), and she paid the other 1/2 of my tuition (@ $175 my final semester), but I lived in an apartment, and paid for everything else myself. I worked my way through college. These days, the U of SC (where I attended 4 years) costs about $15,000 a year tuition. I DO NOT think the average parent can afford that, nor do they owe it to their children. By all means, if you can afford to help, feel free to do so, but don't feel that you MUST. My eldest, John, intends to start (after a brief delay) this fall, and does not expect us to pay for his school. We will help in any way we can, but he is looking forward to being able to help US financially since DH's MS is becoming increasingly nasty. My children continue to thrill and amaze me as they mature, proving that if you "raise up a child in the way that he should go, when he is old he will not depart from it". They always tell people how eager they are to make life for Mommy and Daddy easier, since we have always struggled so for them. They are so beautiful inside, it makes me weep with pleasure. BoB and I are sooo blessed, and sooo undeserving. Thank God He gives us all what He has for us and not what we deserve.

sadieml said:

She says all parents "owe it to their children" to provide them with an education, including college, I say she's nuts.

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sadieml said:

I DO NOT think the average parent can afford that, nor do they owe it to their children. By all means, if you can afford to help, feel free to do so, but don't feel that you MUST.

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sadieml said:

They are so beautiful inside, it makes me weep with pleasure. BoB and I are sooo blessed, and sooo undeserving. Thank God He gives us all what He has for us and not what we deserve.

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SMH! "owe it to their children" ... wowwwww....
yeah let's just keep feeding the entitlement mentality.
Sorry but once a child becomes an adult they are responsible for their future and their choices... so tired of this "owed something mindset".
I find it sickening that parents have this beautiful baby and before they are even leaving the hospital or for some even out of the womb they are stressing over college... give me a break.
College is a tool... whatever happened to gifts and talents? Directing a child in their abilities? Where did all the trade schools go, vo-tech?
Once the gov got into guaranteed loans is when tuition skyrocketed. Not everyone is college bound... and that doesn't mean they aren't smart or aren't capable.... it has become so ridiculous. There is a degree for everything... it is nothing but causing extreme debt and indoctrinating a whole culture.
http://www.alternet.org/story/14860...'re_spending_way_too_much_on_higher_education

http://www.frontpagemag.com/point/201918/115520-janitors-us-have-college-degrees-daniel-greenfield

Sadie- you are blessed! The world just seems to have little value for what is important today.

@Southern by choice - Absolutely right! Second DS is planning to go to Tech school for a 2 yr certificate in welding (used to be an apprenticeship skill) so he can be a Blacksmith (also, formerly an apprenticeship skill). My paternal grandfather was a Blacksmith. I think technical school (now, Technical College) is a better idea for many if not most students. So many careers once depended on apprenticeship and now even those require degrees of some sort. AND there are those skills which now rely entirely on the degree, like teaching, which in SC now has a single teaching practicum (one semester only) and could really use about 2 years of working under the tutelage of a Master. If we could somehow work our way back toward the Master/apprentice concept, I think it would be enormously beneficial to everyone. 'Course, that's just IMHO.

@sadieml I think this is so bad for America. There are so many gifted and talented young men and women that may have incredible gifts that may have learning disabilities in a particular area, dyslexia, NVLD, so many other things that would possibly prevent them from getting a stupid piece of paper yet they are fully capable.
It makes me sick that a receptionist now has to have an associates!
What the heck have we done? I see this as an act of keeping people impoverished, dependent on government whichever way you turn... college debt or the people's debt if the knuckleheads running for president get their way and it is FREE!
Free... and how is that again? Really free?

Well we know the times so it is what it is... just horribly sad.

I want Rachel to go to college
And I want to pay for it and I have been saving for her education since the day she was born
Is she entitled to a college education?
No, but I do feel responsible to provide one to her
That's why I have a 17 year old truck and 12 and 10 year old cars