When you were a child, did you receive "an allowance"?

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   techygranposted 8 years ago

   When you were a child, did you receive "an allowance"?
   
   What did you take away from this experience? Do you believe that 'working with' an allowance as a child was helpful to managing your finances as an adult? How was it helpful, or not helpful?
   
   

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   Cissy1946posted 8 years ago

   Yes, I received 25 cents a week and my older sister received 35 cents. With my 25 cents I could go to a 15 cent double feature movie on Saturday afternoon and have a big bag of popcorn that I bought at the 5 and 10 store on the way to the movie.
   What I learned from my allowance was that when you're the kid sister, life isn't fair...

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      techygranposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks Cecelia for the chuckle!  If you don't mind sharing, do you see differences in how the sense "unfairness" of this exchange has affected your adult perception of work and your sister's adult work experiences?

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      Cissy1946posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      The "life isn't fair" was just a kid sister view of life. Sadly I can't tell you too much about how things worked out in life. At 45 Penny died from breast cancer. On October 3 it will be 27 years and I still miss her very much...

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      techygranposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I'm sorry for your loss Cecelia.  Missing your sister is an indicator of your strong bond. Strong early bonds make for ongoing close and fulfilling relationships.  God bless you!

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      Cissy1946posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you.

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   lisavollrathposted 8 years ago

   I received money in exchange for doing chores around the house. If I slacked on the chores, I got less money. If I did extra, I got more. I think that was a good lesson on working harder for a greater reward.

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      techygranposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks Lisa! I appreciate your response.  As an adult, do you generally work hard with an expectation of being compensated for the effort or are you motivated to work hard for internal rewards? (i.e.,sense of personal accomplisment, pleasure, etc?)

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      lisavollrathposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Hah! I'm an artist. I push myself to grow with each piece I create, and my "compensation" is to develop my skills. Rewards are generally internal more than external in this economy, but the occasional big check doesn't hurt!

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      techygranposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks Lisa-- so, what do you think helped you to provide internal rewards as an adult?  Did your childhood allowance involve any other feature that would promote you to be self-rewarding as an adult?

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   SheaLightseyposted 8 years ago

   Nope. I had to ask my mother and father for anything, and the answer was almost always "No", which led me learn how to make a sales pitch for what I wanted. Sometimes it worked, other times not. I do believe there is something to it honestly. Seeing how corrupted people become at the sight of money nowadays is alarming, and we pass this on to our children...
   
   I do believe learning to manage what you have is important, and I personally had the opportunity to do so with many other aspects of my life as a child (most of which many children would have had no say in at all!). Yet, society is only a manifestation of the base values the family allows to be inherited, and most children learn nothing of the consequences of money when getting an allowance, only the greed/ambition aspect of the equation. Allowing them to work for it is fine, but don't complain when they ask for a raise....or worse: they start to think that's all they are worth.

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      techygranposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you for sharing some interesting thoughts, SheaLightsey.  Did you find that your parents' (sometimes) openness to request and negotiation as a child equipped you to get your needs met in healthy ways as an adult?

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   Ken Burgessposted 8 years ago

   Yes, for doing chores.  The amount was never very much.  But I had a paper route by age 10, and I was working for real paychecks by age 12, I doubt children these days have the ability to do either so early in life, no matter how industrious or hard working they may be... the opportunity is just not there like it used to be.

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      techygranposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks Ken.  Do you envision children without opportunity to work for pay as being handicapped as adults aspiring to financial success? How do you think this paradigm might affect the economy of a country?

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      Ken Burgessposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      The fewer people that learn the value of working at a early age, the greater the amount of people who will become dependent on getting things from others when they become adults.  Like most things, we learn core values and work ethics when young.

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