Parenting- Chores- Children

[Liss]

I like what has been said. I think its very important to get
your kids to do the important and mundane things with you each day.

However, as a financial professional and now a stay at home
dad I hope you don’t mind me sharing some insight to what I have found
works with regards to paying your children.

1.
Make sure its age related.

2.
Pay only for work; not service or expected duties.

3.
Never pay them a lot of money for something. (this with
destroy your Micro economy quicker then anything else).

This, as you know has to be approached consistently and
clearly or your micro economy will collapse!

I have had the often experience when going to the store and
my kids wanting everything they see. It didn’t work well to tell them no
or we can not afford it. Because they didn’t have the concept of money earn
yet.

Therefore, my wife and I came up with very specific “jobs”
that the kids can do to earn money. It will be different for each family but we
learned it was important to not pay them for work that was service related.
Doing the dishes for example is doing something for someone else. Or jobs that
they are expected to do regardless, like picking up their toys…no way I
am going to pay for that, that will destroy your micro economy quick!

Rather
jobs that truly were work and effort for them. Such as washing the windows, vacuuming,
taking out the trash (that’s work for us since we live in a condo our
trash is not close by and for a seven year old hauling it down stairs and
however far away was worth the pay to us) , ect.

Be very careful how much you pay them. My oldest is now 7
and we only pay him $.25 for each job. You have to carefully determine that
amount for each of your families.

Since we have done this our kids really understand what it
means when we say we can’t afford some thing. Today my oldest was helping
me shop and looking for the best deals. It was exciting.

All it took was the
first time after “working” for awhile he requested a new Thomas toy.
It was a great teaching moment when I leaned down and said how many quarters
are in $10? He looked at me and said daddy that’s 40 quarters! For the
first time he learned how truly expensive those trains were.

Except for birthdays and Christmas he has saved up for each
train we purchased since then.

I encourage mirco economies but they must be done with
caution or else the child with request money for everything he does. Even jobs
that are assigned for money. If he requests the money refuse it!

The child is
not to demand it. We created a chart he can mark and we pay out at the end of
the week.

Anyway, do it but do it with care.

Daniel

[Author]

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