THE BAD NEWS for Slovak children is that they do not get any money for doing their household chores. The good news is that their parents give them spending money anyway, a new survey shows.
According to a recent survey from the Synovate company, most Slovak parents do not give children pocket money regularly. Children get money only when they ask for it, or their parents buy them what they need.
Unlike kids in the United States, who do chores to get their pocket money, Slovak children do them without earning money as a reward. Their help in household is seen as a given for which they do not deserve a financial reward.
Synovate surveyed 1,596 parents of five- to 17-years-olds in the U.S., Canada, China, Cyprus, South Africa and Slovakia. They were asked whether they give their children an allowance and how they teach their offspring about financial responsibility.
Synovate found out that American and Canadian children have to earn their allowance. Ninety-six percent of children in U.S. and 86 percent of children in Canada have to do household chores in exchange for their pocket money. At the other end of the scale, a large majority of children in Cyprus (89 percent), China (77 percent) and Slovakia (75 percent) don't have to lift a finger for their pocket money.
For some Cypriot children, however, there is a catch: 19 percent of their parents - along with 16 percent of South African parents - usually demand a say in how the kids spend their money. By contrast, 61 percent of Slovak parents are happy to let their children spend their money any way they like.
Most parents surveyed believe it's important that children learn about financial responsibility, with 78 percent teaching them how to save money and 72 percent showing children how to compare prices to get the best deal.
In Slovakia, 86 percent of parents teach their children how to save money. Up to 74 percent of parents teach their kids how to check prices on items in order to get the best deal. Forty-one percent also teach their children to look for and use coupons.
Up to 30 percent of Slovak parents teach their children how to use a checking account or credit card, more than their counterparts in any other country surveyed.
