When I was a pre-teen, I earned little bits of cash doing extra chores for my parents (usually helping my dad with chopping/stacking firewood). As a young teen, they didn't give me pocket money, I earned it doing jobs for neighbors (my parents covered all of the expenses for said jobs). When I was 16, I started working an actual job after school and started paying my own expenses. I'm pretty confident that they did right by me in that. Also, we were quite destitute in the 80s and early 90s with a raise up to working class by '97 or so (when I already had a job).
Did you have to earn your pocket money?
- Thread starter Flatfrog
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With my dad being a over the road truck driver and my mom no where in sight I had to do most things by myself. I didn't think they were chores just things that needed to be done. Kinda sucked all my family being so distant but I'm a very independent person now so I guess it paid off in the long run.
When I was very young my parents would give my siblings & I about one dollar a week. This was in the 1070's so it's actually more than it sounds like....that ended when my Dad's MS got to the point where he couldn't work any more.
Boys & girls got the same amount.
Chores were expected to be done, they had no relation to the allowance when it existed.
Back then people would look for kids to do some sorts of odd tasks like removing weeds from unused lots etc for a small amount of pay & my Mom's job allowed her to find out about a lot of those opportunities and have us do them.
My allowance pretty much went for paperback books and comic books. Back then you could get some paperbacks for about three dollars, there were others that cost as much as six dollars. Regular comic books were thirty-five cents and DC had a line of 'Dollar Comics' which were big anthologies (68 pages not counting the ads).
Later on in Junior High and High school I was one of the few people who knew how to run the High School Auditorium's ancient & complex lighting system safely, & many public events in town used that auditorium. The school would ask people running events if they wanted someone to run the lights for them and pay me or the other student to come in and do it. I later found out that the school was charging the events 3X what they were paying us....
That continued until I got my first 'real' job at 16.
Boys & girls got the same amount.
Chores were expected to be done, they had no relation to the allowance when it existed.
Back then people would look for kids to do some sorts of odd tasks like removing weeds from unused lots etc for a small amount of pay & my Mom's job allowed her to find out about a lot of those opportunities and have us do them.
My allowance pretty much went for paperback books and comic books. Back then you could get some paperbacks for about three dollars, there were others that cost as much as six dollars. Regular comic books were thirty-five cents and DC had a line of 'Dollar Comics' which were big anthologies (68 pages not counting the ads).
Later on in Junior High and High school I was one of the few people who knew how to run the High School Auditorium's ancient & complex lighting system safely, & many public events in town used that auditorium. The school would ask people running events if they wanted someone to run the lights for them and pay me or the other student to come in and do it. I later found out that the school was charging the events 3X what they were paying us....
That continued until I got my first 'real' job at 16.
I never had to work a single day,
Unless I really felt I wanted to.
(And days when that occured were really rare.)
There was this one time when I did some chores
To earn the cash I had to have to buy
An action figure that I wanted, but
Apart from that, nope. Work was not for me.
Unless I really felt I wanted to.
(And days when that occured were really rare.)
There was this one time when I did some chores
To earn the cash I had to have to buy
An action figure that I wanted, but
Apart from that, nope. Work was not for me.
I'm surprised at the moment of people who had chores when they were kids. Until a couple of years ago (now 19) I did absolutely nothing in the house and my mother never cared enough to force work upon us, yet we still got pocket money and money for outings. Since I turned 17 I received money from my schooling one way or the other (EMA in sixth form and maintenance grants now) so I don't get money from anyone except at birthdays or Christmas, but until then I'd get like £10 a week.
I don't think your parents tried it the same way. We didn't eat if we didn't grow the food, we didn't have clean clothes if we didn't wash them ourselves. We were taught how to do these things then expected to do them on our own. We couldn't afford to be lazy because no one did things for us. If we didn't do them ourselves, they did not happen.gmaverick019 said:
Laziness can only exist if someone is enabling it by doing what they were supposed to do for them. It is not an " adult world" if the consequences for being lazy are not there.
if we didn't grow the food? okay, i get that you live in texas, but there are VERY few people who honestly "grow" their food anymore, let alone having a child grow their own to fend for themselves, i can't think of a single person i know who's ever had to do that, and i even know farmer's and their children, and the children never had to do anything of the sort.Lil devils x said:
they didn't do it to the extreme that you are describing, but they did do it to the bare essentials, and my brother grew up being a stubborn piece of trash for it. However, I do know of kids who grew up with the most extreme over controlling parents on the planet, and the kids are now absolute wrecks in life, my point was taking the extreme in either direction isn't always the best choice.
As much as you can't fathom how parents/kids do this, i can't fathom my future children farming their own food just to survive, as much as i would like to teach my kids certain life/survival skills and a good work ethic, they still are just children, and i wouldn't expect or want them to grow up at such an alarming rate.
Living in Texas isn't why we grew our own food. I am Hopi, so basically it is seen as sacrilegious to NOT grow your own food. I am guessing you don't know any Hopi then. LOLgmaverick019 said:
This isn't considered extreme in the least from where I come from. Where I come from, they would consider it extreme to take a child's choice and control over their own person from them and not allow them to make their own path in life. We were not sheltered from anything and find that doing so would just create ignorance rather than preparing them for the world. We were encouraged to learn as much as we could about everything in the world at a very young age so we would be better prepared to deal with it.
Ah sorry, I didn't make myself clear, I wasn't referring to the Hopi part, I was referring to texas part; being one of, if not the biggest contributor of farms and agriculture in the US, which is why out of any state i figured what you described would come out of texas. and no I don't personally know any Hopi, seeing as how most native american tribes aren't remotely as huge on the population scale as they used to be(and I don't go around asking every single person what their cultural heritage is. Who knows, I could personally know a Hopi)Lil devils x said:
And where I come from, it would be considered extreme, as there isn't any point to growing your own food and whatnot when it is 10x cheaper and faster to just get stuff from the grocery store down the block. Where I come from, the phrase "study and work smarter, not harder" is a way about doing things. As much as I agree that "dealing" with the world is a necessary thing, life is also about enjoyment, and instantly throwing a child into that robs them of their time to just enjoy growing up, figuring out what they like and don't like.
We enjoyed growing up, Hopi people are actually unusually happy, and always have been according to all historical accounts from both sides ( our tribes records as well as European records) In fact, the soldiers thought it strange when they came to invade and were greeted with smiling people welcoming them and left our tribe be, and never relocated our people. When children have control over their own lives and person, they are generally happier. It isn't sheltering them from the world and lying to them about things such as Santa Clause and tooth fairies that causes happiness, it is never being told they cannot do something and being surrounded with people who support them and believe in them to help them achieve whatever they decide to do in life.gmaverick019 said:
As for children deciding what they want in life, even from a young age children were watched by elders to see what their interests are and would be supplied the resources necessary for them to succeed at whatever they chose. Unlike much of western culture, if a boy enjoyed doing things that were considered feminine and wearing girls clothes and such, and if a girl wanted to do masculine things and dress as a boy, it was encouraged rather than discouraged. Arguments with parents and children over what they wish to do like joining a rock band ect, date same gender, didn't really exist in our society at all, so it is a bit different I think.
I don't like pushing my parents. I had chores, but didnt get paid for them. If I needed money, I would just ask, and make sure to say what it is exactly for. I just do what I am told.
Now a days, Im taking care of much of the house. My dad is a state away and my mom works and cant do heavy lifting anymore. That also means that I have to do the majority of the grocery shopping for her. So I just ask her to make me a list, then I buy the things, and mention things I cant afford right now and ask if I can buy them. Though something that has persisted through my family is the thought of "If you dont have a job, you do the chores". Usually that kicks in around 14 years old. It makes some sense and I have no problem picking up most of the slack, It just gets overwhelming at times and I get angry.
As a girl, Ive been kind of routed into more effeminate chores. I learned cooking, while my brothers learned to mow the lawn. As I said before, neither of us were payed, so it didnt really matter.
Honestly, I suppose the children just dont want to fall out of favour. Or our parents are pushovers. I know one of my brothers has no issue pushing for money while doing little in return. I bloody hate asking for money. It makes me feel like scum.
Now a days, Im taking care of much of the house. My dad is a state away and my mom works and cant do heavy lifting anymore. That also means that I have to do the majority of the grocery shopping for her. So I just ask her to make me a list, then I buy the things, and mention things I cant afford right now and ask if I can buy them. Though something that has persisted through my family is the thought of "If you dont have a job, you do the chores". Usually that kicks in around 14 years old. It makes some sense and I have no problem picking up most of the slack, It just gets overwhelming at times and I get angry.
As a girl, Ive been kind of routed into more effeminate chores. I learned cooking, while my brothers learned to mow the lawn. As I said before, neither of us were payed, so it didnt really matter.
Honestly, I suppose the children just dont want to fall out of favour. Or our parents are pushovers. I know one of my brothers has no issue pushing for money while doing little in return. I bloody hate asking for money. It makes me feel like scum.
Yes, the dollar was worth much more in the 11th century, adjusted to inflation, naturally. The Viking raids ended, those Byzantines finally got themselves a decent emperor, the First Crusade was still far off the radar.... T'was a good harvest, the merchants set up shop again, life was good, wasn't it? I remember that year like it was yesterday.... aaaah, good times....Little Woodsman said:
I was required to do chores from a list and did not receive pocket money. I got my first job at 15 and my parents had no involvement in how I spent my own money.
I used to get two dollars a day in primary school then when I got to high school it vanshied along with desert it kinda sucked working my ass of and watching my lil sibblings eat dessert
What's really remarkable is that anyone accepted our American dollars centuries before Europeans found there way over here.SanguiniusMagnificum said:
I laughed my hindquarters off when I realized what I had mis-typed! Good catch my friend!
There was a chore roster and everything, got £5 at the end of the week. The roster stopped at like 15 though and it was more of a "do this now" system. Now at 17 I only have two chores to do that alternate each day, feed the dog/wipe the kitchen sides or do the washing up(hate that shit) I don't get pocket money any more.