Comments on: Should Parents Pay Children to do Household Chores?

By: jeff

jeff — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 08:22:17 +0000

Should your child have to pay an income tax for his/her allowance?

By: Lianna

Lianna — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 22:15:18 +0000

No you should not have to pay your son an allowance for doing household chores. Do you get paid to do everyday things around the house? He should feel lucky to have a roof over his head, a meal is his tummy, and parents that give love him, and pay for opportunities to advance scholastically. The cruse, well that is a luxury. Maybe only match what he can earn for himself. He is old enough to hold a job, s you said. Also if he doesn’t learn the value of money now, chances are he probably never will.

By: Chadder

Chadder — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 02:24:14 +0000

I, too, faced a lot of problems making them do the basic picking up after them jobs. I was yelling myself hoarse just to pick up their toys after they finished playing with them. It was easier to do it myself. But when will they learn?
It was then that I started out on the net. I came across the chore charts. I then planned a little bit. I asked each of my daughters to chose their favorite design (they chose from kidrewardzone) and took a print. I would use a star for each chore done and a minus for a negative behavior like tantrums, untidy rooms, etc. A coin(money) would correspond each star and a coin would be removed for a minus. They did not like the minuses, when they got them initially. Slowly, it came down considerably. They try to get full 10 points and the corresponding money, too. Now, to my surprise, they now understand the concept of money and time too!!!

By: Raising Creative Children » Post Topic » Children and Chores

Raising Creative Children » Post Topic » Children and Chores — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 19:37:22 +0000

[...] finally, you might want to read Paying Children to do Chores . This blog seems to be more about saving money than parenting, but I thought this article was well [...]

By: brendan

brendan — Sun, 10 May 2009 14:04:58 +0000

hi, i am a 15 year old boy that gets paid for doing my chores. I am going to tell you how my dad pays me.

I wash dishes, mow the lawn (or shovel snow depending on the season), change the cat’s litter box, feed the cat, & take out the trash. All for $20 a week, but i must buy my own lunch at school, which leaves me with around $7-8.

When i was younger, i had less chores, and less money – $5, to do simple chores like mow the lawn, and take out the trash. He added chores, and i got more allowance. I believe this was a very good method, because it didnt load me down.

I would recomend you start simple like just mowing the grass for $5 a week. Then add more and more chores as weeks go bye. I think once you son can save up money and actually buy something, he will feel happy that he did his chores.

By: Six Ways to Force Yourself to Save - SavingAdvice.com Blog

Six Ways to Force Yourself to Save - SavingAdvice.com Blog — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 08:15:18 +0000

[...] have mentioned my elder son, who tends to pursue a less than industrious path at times. In contrast, I also have a son who zealously protects every penny that he gets in the [...]

By: Ann

Ann — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 23:47:39 +0000

When I was little, I only got my (very small) allowance if I did all of my chores in a manner that passed parental inspecton! I remember being able to earn extra money by polishing my dad’s shoes or for things like picking rocks out of the yard, when we bought a new house and my dad wanted to get the yard ready for seeding. I also made extra money by subbing for my brother on his paper route.

When I got to be 12, I started babysitting (and still had to do my chores) and, when I was fifteen, my father insisted I get a parttime job — after school and weekends at a hardware store. That one rather annoyed me ’cause it paid less than the babysitting! LOL But Dad said that I had to learn what it was like to show up for work whether I wanted to or not and have to do what an employer told me to… whether I wanted to or not. It had the added advantage of making me realize that I did not want to spend my life with that kind of a job.

I agree with the others about you being too soft on your son. I was in an advanced program and participated in clubs and still managed to do my chores (my mother literally did a white glove inspection of any cleaning) and have a part-time job. I certainly wouldn’t “reward” his behavior by paying as much as you are for him to go on a cruise!

I tended to be a bit more like your younger son… as a matter of fact, I used to lend money to my older brother and even occasionally my mom!

Also, although getting a good education is important, he needs to learn that that and a buck (or more) will simply get you a cup of coffee, not a job, if he’s unwilling to work.

I don’t envy you!

By: spicoli

spicoli — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 17:19:10 +0000

I think children should be forced to do work around the house but only small helpful things like doing the dishes or cleaning their room.

I think that anything strenous or time consuming like yard work or a full house clean does deserve some reward considering the child’s main job is going to school and getting good grades.

By: Persephone

Persephone — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 22:57:50 +0000

I have a similar issue with one of my children. I have tried to instill the notion that hard work is the way to make money. The problem I face is that my teenager has affluent friends whose parents give them large amounts of spending money. When I withhold money from my teenager for failure to perform obligations, my teenager doesn’t truly feel the repercussions because his friends give him money. No matter how low he is on money, he can lunch at the country club and golf, for example, all on the tab of his friends’ parents.

By: David G. Mitchell

David G. Mitchell — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 22:37:27 +0000

Wendy — Thanks for a great post! I actually try to employ the approach that you describe — I will pay him for extras. I also volunteer as a youth sports umpire and have offered to pay him to umpire with me (because it is much easier with two people). Your approach is spot on!

Interestingly enough, my younger son has picked up on my older son’s laziness and tries to earn as much money as possible just so that he can have cash when he needs it later on. He then invests his money in CDs so that he cannot get to it now. As he put it, “if [he] always puts money in CDs, [he] only has to resist temptation every year or so!”