I remember sitting at the lunch table in middle school, listening to my friends talk about their "wads" of cash from simply doing chores around the house. They would constantly boast about their twenty-dollars-a-week salary in exchange for doing easy chores around their house, some of them mentioning the same exact chores I was responsible for. These discussions infuriated me to no end. I did chores. I was a good kid. I brought home A’s and B’s on my report card. Still, though, I never received an allowance.
Being in middle school, I didn’t fully realize why I never received an allowance. I thought it was a requirement from my parents knowing that a significant amount of my friends received a weekly allowance. Looking back now, I know that it wasn’t. My parents never hurt for money, and it wasn’t because I wasn’t living up to their expectations. After a quick discussion with my parents I realize now that I did, in fact, receive an allowance.
I asked my parents why I never had a set monetary allowance for the chores I did growing up, and the reply I got was extremely eye-opening. My parents, specifically my mother, explained that my allowance were the basics in life that my parents had provided for me throughout my lifetime. The roof over my head, food in my stomach, queen size bed, reliable car in the garage, etc. She even went as far as to explain that every time I asked for spending money, I got it. If I went to the movies with friends, she would give me twenty dollars. If I wanted a new pair of shoes, she would buy them for me. So all of this, and then some, was my allowance.
This made so much sense, and I felt selfish afterwards for even asking. Why should a parent give their kid allowance when they are paying for life’s essentials? Being a young adult, I look back and ponder as to why any parent would give their kid an allowance. I’m definitely not going to be giving my kids an allowance, and if they ask me why they don’t receive one, I will answer the same way my parents did when I asked that same question.
After this discussion, I have developed a new appreciation for the way my parents raised me. Maybe I didn’t have an allowance to brag about at the lunch table, but I did have everything that I ever needed or wanted. I worked hard doing my chores and, in return, I received a loving home with good food, a comfortable bed and two wonderful parents.
