Even though their dad is running for President of the United States, Malia and Sasha Obama have a remarkably normal daily life. Household rules include no teasing or fighting, making their beds every morning, and getting themselves up and dressed for school. And each week, their dad pays them $1 in allowance.Allowance is an interesting issue. Do children need an allowance? If you give them one, do you do so as "payment" for chores or simply for spending money? Do parents get a say in how kids spend their allowance? Even if they want to buy, say, a guinea pig? Or their 100th Polly Pocket for you to step on in the middle of the night?
One dollar per week certainly isn't much, but it's just another indication that the Obama's are firmly rooted in the notion of raising their girls in as normal and down-to-Earth environment as possible, even if their childhood ends up being spent in the White House.
Kidsmoney.org has some excellent tips on dealing with the allowance issue. Do you give your kids an allowance? If so, how is it handled at your house?
1. I do give my 8 and 10 year old daughters a weekly allowance. I have 2 job lists in sheet protectors and they alternate every other week. They get a kick out of using a wipe off marker to check off the tasks. They get $10 a week each on average, less if they do less work, more if they do tasks that are not on the list.
They are really into American Girl (that stuff is expensive!) and love going to horse riding camp for a week every summer, which is $200 a week per kid. I have them pay for half of the cost of camp. We went to Disneyworld this summer and each took $200 of their own money to spend as they wanted.
Posted at 3:38PM on Jul 24th 2008 by ame s