<p>why on earth would anyone, and i mean anyone, supply their kids with money to drink? that’s got to be one of the worst ideas i’ve ever heard of.</p>
<p>if you absolutely need to depend on your parents for an allowance, which i don’t think people need to do, it should be for the necessities - food, gas, shelter. not alcohol strippers and a night on the town.</p>
<p>Chillin86, I don’t know who you’re buying drinks for, but I’ve never spent more than about $25 at a bar.</p>
<p>i spent 25 at a bar one night buying 3 drinks - one for myself, and one for each of my two friends who were with me. we then went to another bar and another person paid, and then another bar and another person paid. i’d say we spent about 75 total for the three of us, however none of us would ever ask our parents to pay for that.</p>
<p>“I also don’t think anyone should just hand their kids a 20 dollar a week allowance. in my mind, that kid should be clearing the table after dinner (or even cooking dinner) , they should be dusting the living room, washing my car, etc.”</p>
<p>Obviously people have different family situations, but in some situations (such as mine or my siblings) it would be ridiculous to expect us to get a job. I know freshman through junior year of HS I was out of the house from 7:30am-9:45pm, plus 6 hours alone of sports on Saturdays if not much more, and 4 hours on Sunday (again, that’s if I didn’t have a swim meet). Then I would have to eat dinner, shower, and do homework.
There is no room for a job in that schedule, nor is there room for things like washing my parents cars or cleaning the whole house, let alone cooking dinner (which I was rarely if ever even home for), unless I wanted to do those things at 1AM when I finished my homework, or do that on Friday nights after sports practices instead of having a social night once a week.
I realize most people don’t have schedules like that but I think it’s odd to penalize a student for keeping their grades up AND being dedicated to a sport or theatre, etc by not giving them any spending money at all when they obviously don’t have the time</p>
<p>Unwritten I have to agree. Although every family is different and certainly entitled to their choices, and in fact that choice may make perfect sense for some, in my view, there’s 40-50 years of working ahead, and high school and early college years should be dedicated to school work, sports, ECs, etc. Summers are probably a different story but the school year is for, well, school, and activities that extend from education.</p>
<p>college is a great place to learn to be more or less self sufficent
Students at Ds college have cut their own and each others hair and even branched out into piercings!
I do believe that most have drawn the line at do-it-yourself tattoos however</p>
<p>I would have drawn the line at do it yourself piercings too, so I guess they’re braver than I am.</p>
<p>I agree that we shouldn’t be forced to work during the week for money. Clubs and sports look just as good on applications as a part-time job. I only worked on Friday and Saturday nights during senior year because I had theater rehearsals during the week in the fall and spring. I left home at 7am and didn’t get home from rehearsal until 6pm. it’s really not fair to deprive a kid of money for the occassional movie with friends or new shoes just becuase they don’t have time for chores or a job between club meetings and sports scrimmages. If they lay around playing video games from the minutes they get in from school, that’s different. But if you play 3 sports, join a club or two, and take all honors and AP classes, who has time for a job???</p>
<p>I don’t think I have the stregnth to let someone else cut my hair. Yes, I know hair grows back-my mom has said that for 18 years- but mine grows so slowly. And if the cut goes wrong, you have to live with it while it grows back. I don’t want to live with hair that stranger trashed if I don’t have to. And cost really isn’t an issue, a hair cut is a minor cost because I only do it every other month, I just don’t feel comfortable letting someone else do it.</p>
<p>Wow, a haircut thread! Is that a first for CC? To clarify, I have short hair and difficult hair at that. This is one of our few splurges but we like our friendly but very stylish salon. I did actually move to one of the cheap places for a while and my first cut was fine, but the second and third ones were terrible. (by the way, for my hair, the charge was $30.00 whereas they charge less for easier hair!) Hard to go to court and take myself seriously with a really bad haircut :(. S of course does spend $25.00 at the campus barber. </p>
<p>Anyway, there’s no one right answer to this allowance question of course. I have come around to the point of view that Cheers espoused when our boys were both college freshmen, which is, it is a pleasure to be able to provide them money to take advantage of the opportunities at school. (Where IS Cheers by the way?)</p>
<p>I have a high school junior & I probably end up giving her $10 a week, but if I made her ( which I would prefer) budget for most everything herself, I would give her about $20</p>
<p>When the oldest went to college though- her work study job gave her money for personal expenses although we did fill in the bank account every once in a while- I was willing to pay for books I just needed to know how much they were ( a lot!)</p>
<p>My junior actually pierced her own ears- when she was 6 years old!
I don’t have a strong enough stomach for that- I don’t want to think about what she is going to do in college.
My oldest did have a friend, who cut her own hair ( during a time out at a rugby game- it was apparently in her way)
and also had a friends whose hair was butchered by another student & I had to try and fix it ( it was quite difficult as she has Asian hair & it was cut super short).
I also seem to remember one girl who pierced her tongue or nose or something- but I wouldn’t recommend that either !</p>
<p>I understand taht kids perhaps have an attachment to certain stylists, but that is also a good place where they can learn to cut back on other things so that they have room for their priorities
COllege is a good place to learn to budget because you also don’t generally have utilty and rent bills to also worry about.</p>
<p>i still haven’t pierced my ears. my boyfriend has given me earrings i don’t know how many times because he forgets I don’t have my ears pieced. my one friend recently gave me a pair of earrings to wear in her wedding however i still don’t think i’m going to pierce them. i haven’t pierced them for myself nor for my boyfriend in the last 6 years so i don’t think i should be expected to pierce them for her. i’ll make sure the earrings get worn by somebody… but it won’t be me :)</p>
<p>and i realize people have different schedules, but i still believe kids shouldn’t just be handed 20 bucks just because of the fact that they are too involved in things and don’t have time to work, i mean if they help out around the house or something then okay give out some allowance, i think someone can always find time to help straighten up the living room, or carry out the trash at night when you know it’s trash pick up the next day, or help clean up the dishes after dinner (if home for it), or if you have a pool learn to help out with the chemicals, or even just spray toilet cleaner stuff in the toilet at night before you go to bed - all of these are simple tasks that require barely any time and i think everyones parents would greatly appreciate them and you’d actually be earning that money… but hey, that’s just my opinion.</p>
<p>patient, my hair is the same way, unruly and fly-away! Our salon charges the same way, my mom’s shorter hair cost less to cut than mine, and mine is less expensive than my sis’s because hers is a bit longer. Part of the problem with doing it while at school is that my school is in a sleepy town of 9,000 people. They’re aren’t a lot of choices, so until I find a place that gets glwing recommendations, I won’t risk it. </p>
<p>I do do a few light chores around the house, and for that I get a $10/week allowance. I make about $200/ month after taxes from work, so sometimes it’s that $10 that puts gas in the car for the last 2 days until I get paid. It isn’t too much to expect kids to help clean up messes they help to make and to do little things to show they care for their home and possessions that parents work so hard to provide. It isn’t too much to ask for at all. But, kids work hard too. They work hard in the classroom, the sports field, the school clubs an commitees. They work to show teachers, coaches, and -most importantly- parents that they are capable of handling responsibility and challenges similiar to those of “real life”. I just think that doing it for the feeling of success and acomplishment isn’t always enough to keep it going strong all the time. A small allowance seems like good additional incentive. But, as with fendergirl, this it simply my opinion.</p>
<p>fendergirl, I was expected to do those things (and more) just as part of ‘being a member of the household’ or however my mother phrased it, without any sort of reward. Whenever I approached her for allowance, she’d ask me why I should get an allowance when I didn’t do “much” around the house. That’s how I ended up getting paid $20 here and there for doing ‘extra’ stuff like cleaning the house or washing the cars, but no weekly amount. They also never let me work until the summer between junior and senior year because they thought it would be ‘too much’ with schoolwork, so I never managed to find a job until I had nearly graduated.</p>
<p>Personally I kind of like the idea of a monthly allowance instead of a weekly one, because it teaches money management. I knew too many people in high school who got much more allowance money than me or even had jobs before me, and yet never had any money unless it was a day or two after they got paid.</p>
<p>Hair…hmm…I go to a ‘nicer’ salon and pay $50 for my haircuts (but $10 for bang trims, apparently). I’d rather have peace of mind that I’m not going to get a horrible haircut and have to go get another one the next week, and I don’t go that often anyway. I could go to the local beauty school, where haircuts are around $15 I think but it takes the student 3 hours to cut it.</p>
<p>$50??? How long is your hair? I go to a ‘nicer’ place too, but they’d only change someone that much if they had hair to their waist. But it’s nice hear that someone else has reservations about letting any person out there cut your hair :).</p>
<p>I didn’t expect my haircut comment to start a war! I was just thinking that, for most people (or most of my friends), nice cuts are a treat and routine cuts are done by parents or for $20 at the local salon. I just thought that it’s a fairly routine expense that would be factored into allowance. </p>
<p>Adjust suggestions as needed. D has curly hair that needs special treatment? Give her more money for that - it’s not too different from having a prescription medication for allergies. Some people need it, some don’t. I just think that haircuts are like cars - you can have cheap ones that get the job done, or you can have nice ones. Not a bad way to start teaching money management (and the value of money) - do you want the $75 hair cut or do you want to be able to go out with your friends for a month?</p>
<p>LOL @ ariesathena - you seem to be starting small fires everywhere lately! I have long hair so if someone messes up a trim it won’t matter if I need another inch off to correct it. I do wish I had never had my ears pierced though - it’s annoying to remember to match earrings to clothing, etc. It would be better to have no earrings at all. </p>
<p>I think every parent - if not most parents - require participation in household chores as a matter of course, and the types of chores and amount probably vary from family to family. This has always been separate from financial support in my house. I have always offloaded stuff I don’t want to do, and that the uber-extravert loves to do. Since about freshman year in high school, I gave her all of our holiday shopping and organizing, since I love our friends, but have no interest at all in keeping the Christmas card lists organized, or deciding who gets what gifts. Plus I am absolutely no good at it. So she does all that, plus wraps the gifts. She also makes sure we don’t miss important dates like birthdays, anniversaries, etc., and decides which invitations are important, and which we can decline. My role is to provide the funds - after that, I don’t care what happens. She’s also the POC for neighbors and the community, including our athletic clubs and volunteer stuff - if anyone wants something from me, they know to go to my D. It works perfectly because she loves people; she always seems to know exactly the right gift to buy, and/or the right thing to do or say, and I don’t have to deal with the minuteau and am freed up to focus on my priorities (like playing around on CC), and everything gets done.</p>
<p>She has had to do her share around the house, but, while I don’t care if the dishes sit or the beds are made or even if the laundry gets a bit out of control, I care very much that we have excellent community and neighbor relations (in two cities), and that our network of friends, mentors and supporters stays very vibrant, so this is the sort of “work” D gets assigned. And it’s worth a LOT to me.</p>
<p>Only give him/her money when he/she absolutely needs it. Let them become bitter like me, about having to work non-stop to stay alive. I have become very appreciate of everything because of that.</p>
<p>P.S. I used to be bitter about all of my friends with their lazy money. Not anymore. It really helps you grow having to work for money.</p>
<p>i was expected to do all of those things as a member of the household and got nothing for them as well, however i’m just saying you should at least do something to get the money. it doesn’t grow on trees.</p>
<p>Bioguy, there is some merit to what you said, but, I worry about the fact that from about age 22 - 65-ish or even longer, it’s work, work, work. Who even knows if today’s 22 year olds will ever even be able to retire, PLUS they’re likely to have a longer life expectancy, which in turn of course requires more money to support. That’s a LONG time to work full time, and in general Americans don’t even get the longer vacations and sabaticals that peers in other regions of the world enjoy.</p>
<p>I just don’t see any reason for a big rush to enter the workforce, even part time, for students still in high school, or even the first year in college. Summers are o.k., but I just don’t see where it’s necessary, or even desirable, during the school year.</p>
<p>I think it’s just the area we live in and how people are raised, but in my town everyone works… all the kids buy their own cars, pay their own car insurance, etc… why should parents pay for that stuff? even the val. of my class, who was involved in all this stuff, managed to work saturdays and sundays at a grocery store during the school year. it teaches responsibility, also the ability to control money, it also gives you real work experience for the future, also it teaches you to value your money, and if you are too busy to work during school, then i think you should at least work during summer and save up that money to use during school and still shouldn’t need an allowance. and if for some reason you can’t do that, then an allowance is acceptable as long as you’re doing some type of chore for it. My little sister is 17 and so far this summer she has, after taxes, pocketed $2800 and the summer isn’t over yet… and she’s still home from work at 2:30 and has the entire rest of her day to do social events or whatever it is she wants to do. During school she works friday and saturday for 4-5 hours each at a fire house and makes enough money to pay for her gas, car insurance, cell phone, and various other expenses… and she doesn’t need to work during school because she always has so much money saved up from working over the summer, but she does it anyway.</p>
<p>and as far as longer vacations and such, the jobs are out there, you just have to look for them. I started with my company in August 05, and this year I have 28 days of paid vacation. 28 days! That’s roughly a month and a half off. I’ve enjoyed a 10 day vacation to the outerbanks, as well as vacation to Toronto, three vacations to the beach, and I have a week off for a friends wedding in October. I also plan to sell back 5 vacation days at Christmas time to get that extra money in my pay check - which hypothetically should pay for Christmas as long as I don’t go too crazy with gifts.</p>
<p>also, at my interview i got asked about a dozen questions/scenarios of which i had to respond with answers pertaining to past jobs - and they specifically stated not to use clubs or activities for my answers. they wanted to know how i handeled this and this in the workforce. I feel sorry for the kid fresh out of college who came into that interview with little to no work experience and had no clue how to answer those questions.</p>