She doesn't have chores right now but my husband wants to start her with some chores when she stats to get the allowance.

Personally I don't like linking chores to payment as a system because I think everyone should contribute to the house anyway and payment isn't necessary. I don't want to be negotiating to pay a child money to do things that they should just do when asked.

I see an allowance as a useful tool to help learn about money and money management. It is not bribery, we are not asking for anything in return. Although exceptionally bad behavior may result in no allowance for a while.

You are looking for a different outcome from the giving of the allowance from that which we are looking for. You are looking to instill a work ethic (which can be taught in different ways other than through being payed for jobs at home) while we are looking to teach money skills.

So it sounds like we are on the right track then with $2.50 a week. We are a bit worried that she won't spend it either, as she has had no interest in spending the little money that she has had so far really. We are going to try to actively look for opportunities for her to spend it at first to get the idea in her head as to how she can spend it and why she would want to.

I don't have to get paid to have a good work ethic and I don't have to pay a child to teach them work ethics. Working hard at school and having pride in doing good work, builds work ethic. Doing chores well and taking pride in doing them is showing work ethic. Giving time to others and doing a good job for them does not require payment. Making sure to go to school on time and attending school when feeling a little under the weather (not genuinely ill) all build work ethic. Taking pride in appearance at school and adhering to dress codes builds work ethic.

Demonstrating these skills in my own and husbands lives also sets good role models for my SD.

I could argue with you that conversely by paying children to do tasks at home for the family you are encouraging an entitlement culture where they expect payment for any of their time devoted to helping others even within their family. I think that families should help each other out where they can and don't demand payment. I am not saying that I think that paying children to do tasks is appalling and I know many people do it, just that it isn't how I want to do things and that SD won't automatically become entitled and lack work ethic because she gets an allowance that is not linked to completing certain tasks.

I didn't ask whether to give SD an allowance or not, or what system to set up. You are right, I am not really interested in your ideas on that and don't intend to do anything differently to what we have decided, but being polite I did play along with your questions.

Read my OP and thread title again. I asked, how much allowance to give her and what others give their children of similar ages.

Thanks, do you have kids this age? What do they do with the money? Do they tend to save it all? Do they purchase all non essentials outside of birthdays/Christmases etc? I'm just curious as it seems a lot more than we were thinking. But then stuff is expensive these days.

Yes, up until now we just bought SD what she wanted, if we felt it was reasonable (she hears "no" the vast majority of the times she asks for things). She is like any kid she "wants" a lot of things (typically when we walk past them in the store) but because she is used to hearing "no" she doesn't generally whine about it if she doesn't get anything. But she doesn't ask for big ticket items on a sustained basis yet (apart from a puppy...not happening!). As she gets older I'm sure this will change. Not having TV and her not being subjected to commercials on a daily basis, probably helps curb her consumerism!

We are going to have to change our ways a little and let her pay for things when she wants them (if they are appropriate) or encourage her to save for them rather than buying the occasional treats ourselves.

What I really wanted to find out was a $ amount for a child of 8. If you can provide me with that we can debate it. I have had others who have given me what they think, and where they differ a lot from what I was thinking I have asked for further clarification to see if I am not on the right track or if I need to modify what we were thinking.

I understand that you think that giving a child a $ amount without being linked to tasks is irresponsible and that is fine. I do not intend to be condescending in my replies, I apologize if I came across that way. If I have been passive aggressive I am sorry, I felt provoked by your continual attacks and assertions that allowances for no chores automatically lead to entitlement, so I tried to explain my position. Your posts while I agree related, are not to do with what I intended to be the theme of this thread. I have tried to clarify what I want to find out subsequently.

Thanks, that's a good point. I don't want to start too high as I would rather move up than down with the amount. Though I was concerned that if it is too low, she won't really be able to buy anything with it and I want her to be challenged with the thought that she could buy a cheaper item now or a nicer, more expensive item in a couple of weeks and decide what she wants to do for herself. I was thinking that with $2.50 she can get a couple of things at the dollar store or maybe an ice cream or comic book. If she wants something bigger she can learn to save for it.

When I was a kid we got 10c for each year of life, I like the system because it has an automatic inflation built in with age.

Very industrious of you, sounds like you had fun earning your money.

Ooh I don't know, good question. Probably along the lines of, "now that you are good at adding up money we want to give you an allowance so that you can buy things for yourself if you want them. You will get X amount every week and you are responsible for looking after it and can choose what you want to do with it". (Obviously we will monitor that she buys age appropriate things with it).

Is there a better way to phrase it?

This is what we were thinking of doing. We do need to keep ourselves in check to make sure that we don't buy those small purchases for her that we have done up until now, but encourage her to use her own money.