Chore-Free Allowance In Canada

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Canada is a country that boasts the 19th highest GDP per capita in the world, but money is still a touchy subject on the world scale or the family scale. Parents most often want the best for their children in life and will try to give them a comfortable childhood. When it comes to allowance, however, opinions begin to differ. According to Denise Cummins, Ph. D. and author for Psychology Today, parents approach the topic of giving their children allowance in three ways; paying them for the chores they do, giving them chore-free allowance, or supplying no allowance at all. Out of the three, free allowance and no allowance are the most popular. According to her report, it was clear that “receiving an allowance did indeed impact children’s financial …show more content…

In many cases, the opposition would argue that giving children a payment in return for household chores prepare children by replicating a work environment; however, they fail to realize how mixing home and workplace can have a negative influence on the family. In an article by Elisabeth Leamy of The Washington Post, “[a]n allowance is a way for children to learn about handling money,” she cites, “[a]n allowance shouldn’t be used as payment for routine chores” (as cited in Leamy, 2017). The same article later explains that allowance should remain separate from the children’s responsibility to do chores, as they are still a member of the family and should do their share. When parents argue that paying children to do chores also teach them about responsibilities, author Ron Lieber opposes with his book “The Opposite of Spoiled”. He responds that “we shouldn’t give allowances in exchange for chores because one day our kids will decide they don’t need the money and refuse to do the work” (The Washington Post). Reinforcing the statement that chores should remain separate from allowances, retired psychologist Mary Kelly Blakeslee tells U.S. News that “Children should learn that they need to contribute to the family without getting paid because that's part of being in a family” then adds, “[i]t just doesn't work. Parents often don't keep track of the chores. Yeah, …show more content…

This is a flawed argument because when the children come to working age, employers will not pay them every half a year through birthdays and Christmas, but instead monthly or bi-weekly. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada argues that when children become teens and are close to working age, “pay them their allowance every two weeks or monthly. This forces your teens to manage money over a longer time period. This will help them learn to plan and make choices about how they spend their money” (Government of

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