A penny for your thoughts... and a dollar for your efforts. It's the old allowance conundrum. We're talking chore charts, compensation rates and more. For an allowance novice, it can feel like a real handful. The dilemma goes beyond what to give and what not to give to your children. You have to find age-appropriate duties. You must implement money-managing strategies for your little worker bee. {relatedarticles}However, many experts believe there shouldn't be a correlation between chores and allowances. Chores should be done based on being a contributing part of the family unit, and children need to continue to contribute long after they have other sources of income. But before all of that, you have to put a well thought out plan in place. Should you decide to have an allowance program based on work performance, realize that your child must be old enough to recognize the value of money, which is usually about the age of 5. According to the syndicated columnist Dr. Tightwad, the allowance should be enough for your kids to blow, but not so much that you'll be bothered when they rip through their newfound funds.