Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-20
CH|LD'S MINIMUM
COST At AGE OF Is
FIGURED AT &,A3
White House Conference Re-
ports Expenses in First
Year Are $265.
BURDEN TAKES JUMP
AT ABOUT TENTH YEAR
Parents Urged to Give Regular
Allowance as Training in
Use of Money.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

~ AHONao
A l5-year-old boy or girl represents
minimum cost of from $4,543 to
$6,277.
The figures are reached by the White
House Conference on Child Health
and Protection by averaging various
minimum estimates Of relief organiza-
lions and social studies, taking into
consideration the cost of food, clothing
and the child's share of rent, heat,
light and miscellaneous expenses of the
family. Then 20 per cent is added to
the whole account for those expenses
peculiar to childhood.
The older the child. the tables show,
the greater the expense The estimate
ranges from $265 to 1908 for the first
year to 1915 to $493 for the fifteenth
year: The big jump, it is shown, comes
at about the tenth year. For the lowest
set OF figures there is an abrupt rise
OF about SIG year at that age.
Early Increase Slow.
There has been an increase OF only
$ll from birth up to this time. For the
higher table the increase for the tenth
year Is $24. During the first 10 years
there has been an increase of $50. But
both tables show that for every year
quires more food. more clothes and
more room.
The most notable increases are in
the food anC clothing budget. During
the Is years for both groups these costs
approximately doubled The lower table
allows $92 for things to eat and wear
during thu first year and $143 in the
fifteenth year. The higher table starts
with $l08 and runs up steadily to $293
These figures. it is explained, are the
minimum additions to the family bud
rYnf Nn@ hNv ~ -
every additional child.
The report emphasizes that both esti-
mates are absolute minimumS at which
investigators have estimated that a
child can be reared decently. They do
not approach. 1t is believed, the actual
expenditures on child of the average
American family in far circumstances.
The need of a study Of actual expendi-
lures - not estimates for relief - Is
stressed in this study just published by
the Home Management Committee of
the White House Conference.
Training in Money Use.
The report also includes a study I'M
dertaken by DR.. BENJAMIN Andrews Of
Columbia University on the child
training in the use of money. based on
the experience of 634 children from all
sorts of families in the schools of
Rochester, N. Y, an industrial city, and
Brookline, Mass, q residential COM
munity.
The investigators found that 80 per
cent of the pupils examined in Roches-
ter were given allowances by their par
ents and II per cent Of the pupils in
Brcokline. The rest got money only by
specific requests. In both cities parents
appear to have been more indulgent to
girls. possibly because there is less op..
portunity for them to earn money OF
their own.
The children were asked how much
money they needed to spend. The re-
plies ranged from so cents a week for
the sixth grade boys in Rochester TO
SIS week for the eighth grade girls in
Brookline. The desired allowance in
creased with age. In Rochester the
amount desired by the girls increased
from 81 a week in the sixth grade to
So in the tenth grade. The tenth grade
boys asked fer 81.
The children told what they would
do with the money they wanted. III
you had 81 a week to do with exactly
as you pleased, what would you do with
it?" they were asked.
The younger 9hildren-especially in
Brookline-tended to oversave and
overgive, while with increasing age the
three functions of saving, spending and
giving tended to balance one another
about as adult judgment would approve.
Thus, in a fifth grade, so per cent
saving was the medium suggested by
the girls and As per cent by the boys.
In the eighth grade Of the same build
ing this decreased to Is per cent for the
girls and 10 per cent for the boys.
Children should be given allowances
in accordance with the ability Of their
parents rather than be forced to ask for
specific sums to meet specific needs, the
report emphasizes.
The child as developing per-
Sonality." says the report Of this study.
needs financial freedom with friendly
guidance from elders. The child by
his allowance is given an opportunity
to learn through experience, but an
allowance does not work automatically.
Urges BroadsStudy.
with parents interested to keep in
personal contact with their chuds
financial problems, he will find his
way while yet child into expert
ences In earning, spending. saving and
giving money that will equip him for
successful financial experience as an
adult"
The report urges far-reaching
study on the money cost Of an ade-
quate standard of living. to be accom-
panied by definite physical and mental
measurements, to be undertaken In the
near future.