Democrats Provide Their Kids with Larger Allowances
NEW YORK -- If you’re a minor seeking an allowance, you’re likely to get more spending money if your parents are Democrats, live in a city and your father controls the family finances.
So finds a Harris poll that reports Republican parents who provide an allowance give their children ages 10 to 13 $7.60 a week on average, independent parents $8.70 and Democrats $9.50.
In the 14 to 17 age group, Republican parents provide $14.10 a week on average versus independent parents, $16, and Democratic parents, $17.50.
Half of Americans say they received an allowance when they were growing up, and among those with children ages 4 to 17, 60% say their children receive one, the survey found. When asked what they feel is an appropriate weekly allowance for children in three age groups (4 to 9, 10 to 13 and 14 to 17), the pollsters said they weren’t surprised that allowance levels increase as children get older – the averages went from $4.10 to $8.70 to $16, respectively -- although it may surprise some to see that allowances roughly double from one age category to the next. Moreover, there are some distinct shifts in how different groups of Americans perceive what constitutes an "appropriate" allowance:
In all three age categories, Echo Boomers (Americans ages 18 to 36) and Gen Xers (ages 37 to 48) are more generous than their elders about appropriate levels of allowances. Baby Boomers (ages 49 to 67), in turn, report higher appropriate allowance levels than Matures (ages 68 and older):
- For 4- to 9-year-olds: $5.10, Echo Boomers; $5.40, Gen Xers; $3.10, Baby Boomers; $2.00, Matures.
- For 10- to 13-year olds: $10.60, $10.10, $7.30 and $5.40, respectively.
- For 14- to 17-year olds: $18.00, $18.80, $14.00 and $11.60, respectively.
Men are consistently looser with the purse strings than women:
- For 4- to 9-year-olds: $4.70, men; $3.50, women.
- For 10- to 13-year-olds: $9.90, $7.60.
- For 14- to 17-year-olds: $17.90, $14.20.
Urban Americans project a higher "appropriate" allowance than their rural counterparts and a higher rate than either suburbanites or rural parents of 10- to 17-year-olds, in keeping with respective costs of living:
- For 4- to 9-year-olds: $4.30, urban; $4.30, suburban; $3.30, rural.
- For 10- to 13-year olds: $10.00, $8.60, $7.40.
- For 14- to 17-year-olds: $18.30, $15.70, $14.00.
The Harris Poll found that the level of household income “shows little relationship with what [parents] believe allowance levels should be.”
Ninety percent of parents believe an allowance is an important way for a child to learn about money; 90% also say if a teenager wants money, he should get a job, and 86% say that children should get an allowance only when they work for it (doing household chores, for example).
Nearly three-fourths (74%) believe that bad behavior is a reason to dock a child’s allowance should be taken out of a child's allowance in some way and 73% responded that children shouldn't expect to get paid just for helping around the house. This last sentiment, that helping out around the house is not, in and of itself, worthy of compensation, is especially strong among Baby Boomers and Matures.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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