Good gig: Pre-teens rake in dough from parents
The under 10-year-old set takes in a whopping $113 a month in allowances, bribes and rewards, an amount their parents concede is too much but say is necessary to keep up with the Jones'.
As part of wider research into money management among young people, VoucherCloud.net asked more than 2,100 American parents whether they regularly gave their five-to 10-year-old children cash. (The survey, which has a standard sampling error margin of 3.3 percent, was conducted over a one-week period with respondents with children in these age categories. ) Nearly three-quarters (71 percent) said that they did, with 77 percent providing a regular allowance.
Other reasons parents gave to explain why they shelled out cash to their young kids: to reward them for good behavior (61 percent); bribe them to be good (51 percent); pay them for chores (44 percent); or to provide a gift for a special occasion, such as a holiday or birthday (46 percent).
The total monthly take added to an average of $113 per child, which adds up to roughly $1,360 per year, according to VoucherCloud.
When parents were asked how they felt about giving their youngsters all that money, 65 percent said they thought they were giving the kids too much. Forty-five percent explained that they gave more than they thought was appropriate because they were competing with other parents. Meanwhile, roughly a quarter of respondents said they didn't want to disappoint their offspring, while 17 percent said their children like expensive things and needed money to buy them.
Matthew Wood of vouchercloud, an online provider of coupons and discount codes, added that parents sometimes give their kids money out of guilt or to make up for a lack of parental attention. But a better course might be to spend more time and less money.
"Money really isn't the most important thing," he said. "If you're playing with [your kids], nine times out of 10, they won't care if it's with a iPad or a yo-yo."
