The general guideline here is a dollar per year of life each week, meaning a four-year-old earns four dollars a week. I know this sounds like a lot of money, but from the beginning it’s suggested that you help your child divide their allowance into three categories including saving, spending and charity. You might start with a a dollar in saving, two dollars in spending and a dollar in charity.
The saving money is to save for a big purchase. My daughter’s first purchase from saving was a Groovy Girl car. This is just teaching the idea to set aside money and watch how it grows. The spending money is just that, they can spend it on little things, save it for a few weeks or add it to savings to grow that faster. If you are going to put limits on their spending money such as no candy, it’s best to do this up front. The charity is for the change-drive at their school or the offering at Sunday school. If children are interested, you might help them to pick a charity they are interested in and donate there.
Parenting by Dr. Rene 
I love the idea of a dollar per year of life. However I have been using a different method. We make my 5 year old earn his allowance up to $5.60 a week but he averages $3:50…we have a list of chores. We are a firm believers in earning your money rather that handing out. Is that an acceptable method? I would like see your take. Thank you.
Hermon
I like this idea! You have up to $5.60 available but he averages about $3.50 based on what actually gets done. The people who write about all this tend to say it’s all or nothing, they do all their chores and get all their allowance or not. Your approach pays them what they’ve earned. I think the people who write are trying to avoid big debates each week but as long as yours isn’t an upset, I prefer it so they are actually earning even if they missed a thing or two. I want to err on the side of flexiblity when I can. Thank you, Rene