Here's how it works

We've made the technical stuff really easy – the harder part is deciding on your kids' responsibilities and spending. If you’re like most families, you may not have been this consistent or clear with your kids before.

For example, what spending do you want to put into your kids’ hands? What are reasonable responsibilities? How hard or easy should you make it? And many more questions specific to each child and each family.

To help you get started, there's a Gallery that shows examples of "What other families do". You'll see Budgets and Responsibility Checklists that other parents have created. Copy anything you see — all the examples have been volunteered for that purpose by Active Allowance members.

You may find that the Active Allowance system transforms many of your discussions with the kids. Not “why do you want the money” but instead “Is this a choice you want to make?” Not “Get ready for school!” but instead “Hmmm…did I have to nag you this morning?" And it clarifies much of what you expect from each child. The younger ones especially love checking things off the list!

Once you've completed the set-up, the Active Allowance process takes just a few minutes a week :

• Once a week, you or your child prints out the Responsibilities Checklist; keep it somewhere visible (eg on the refrigerator).
• 
  
• Each day, your child checks off each responsibility completed and then adds up the points at the end of the day.
• 
  
• You initial the checklist each day.

That's it - you're done!

Once a week, you log in and enter just one number per child — the total points she earned that week.

When your child wants money, she logs in via her very own account, prints out a check, signs it and gives it to you — the banker (by signing a check, it helps make the process feel concrete for your child).

You then give her the money — no questions asked as long as she's following your house rules (eg. clothing money for clothes, not for a movie).

Everything else — the accounting, the math, the reporting, the reminders — is done for you and your kids by the system.