Posted on January 2, 2009 at 2:13 am I have a 5 year old daughter, but I also have a 9 year old step-son. We allocated each child 4 small chores to do each day. They are just a regular part of everyday chores, but it's important the kids understand the value of their contribution to the family. The 5 year old is given basic duties - make her bed, help me fold the laundry, help to empty the dishwasher each night and help with preparing the dog's food each night. The 9 year old is given a little more - make his bed, stack the dishwasher, help me hang laundry on the line, and help with basic dusting chores. Easy - right? There's a reason for 4 chores and not 5. If they do all 4 chores, they receive $4 plus a $1 bonus for doing well without being asked. This teaches them both the value of being rewarded for working. If only 3 chores are done, then they receive $1 per chore and no bonus. This teaches them the value of pay-cuts and docked pay for slacking off. Both kids happily volunteer for extra chores because of the bonus system. ;)

Posted on January 6, 2009 at 11:36 pm Teach your kids on how to make use of your money wisely.

Posted on January 8, 2009 at 9:28 am kudos to you!! i worked in the fast food industry for 15 years and the last 3 were the worst!  the reason why? these kids come in thinking that all they have to do is show up to collect a paycheck.  When i started out you never saw the manager unless it was a dire emergency.  Till the end us as managers was doing our work and most of thiers. It made our job so hard we were doing twice the work.  But you would fire and retrain and back to sqaure one.  you cant get quality help anymore because parents are not teaching thier children responsibility and pride in thier work and doing a good job. My mom used to have a saying for her employees that i loved If you have time to lean, you have time to clean and it always seemed you had to force them to keep them going and then you had to re-do what they did because they did it half butted!

Posted on February 8, 2009 at 9:29 am You sound like life is built on money instead of love and understanding. If you were to train your children to be rewarded with money each time they are given a chore, then you are training them on the wrong line of thoughts. They will then work for rewards instead of the love for work and lose all creativity. They will become business minded as they grow up and this is not an intellectual development.

Posted on February 9, 2009 at 1:05 pm I like to think that children should learn the "intrinsic feeling" of knowing they have done a good job.  I want my kids to feel proud of themselves.  When a chore or something that is done at home and they helped to accomplish it, I like to "praise" them.  Many times though, children need to begin with something "tangible" they want to see "reward" for the workt they have done, i.e. for example an employee at work, who goes the extra mile to get the job done, will get a bonus.  Not only does he/she receive the feeling of having done something great, but also there is something "tangible" to go along with it.  Praise is great, appreciation is good too, rewards are nice, but when you know that you did the job, it really doesn't matter what the reward is.  When you begin with something small....a sticker, a pencil eraser, a special treat, along with the verbal reward, you are teaching family values.

Posted on February 13, 2009 at 9:28 pm [quote]You sound like life is built on money instead of love and understanding. If you were to train your children to be rewarded with money each time they are given a chore, then you are training them on the wrong line of thoughts. They will then work for rewards instead of the love for work and lose all creativity. They will become business minded as they grow up and this is not an intellectual development. [/quote] What a very negative comment! I sincerely hope my children grow up to be strong, independently business-minded adults with enough awareness not to become lazy, self-absorbed debt-addicts who are reliant on weak-minded religions in order to tell them what to do when things get a little tough. I spend a large amount of time with my children equally so they learn the value of being a part of a loving family - and that includes me being responsible enough as an adult to teach them about the value of a good working ethic. I'd rather show my kids the value of being rewarded for their efforts this way than to hand them everything they ever wanted and then reward them for doing nothing with a cuddle and affection. This kind of 'training' only creates adults who give up their own self-respect in order to make their future partners offer affection. No thanks. There are many different ways to show children love and affection. Making them do no chores, giving them anything they want and not teaching or disciplining them isn't showing love. It's cruelty.

Posted on February 14, 2009 at 4:39 am That is exactly my point Raven.  Children should have chores because they are part of a family unit.  There should be some chores that they do every day, just because they are part of that unit.  It is also important to teach a child the "value" of a dollar, so you might want to give them something extra to do around the house where they might earn fifty cents.  No one wants to be taken for granted not even children and they want to know that they have contributed to the family dynamics, that their role is important and that's why we should always praise them when we see them doing something "good."   The saying goes:  "catch them while they're being good and praise them immediately." 

Posted on February 18, 2009 at 1:42 am This is a good system. We have allocated certain chores to our 7 and 12 year old that are to be done without pay in exchange for all the things we do for them. Then there are the extra chores they can do each week, which we pay them for. Whatever works!

Posted on March 15, 2009 at 1:28 am Good system. However, my concern is that the children might grow with the expectation of monetary reward everything they are asked to do something. I've got neighbor's kids here volunteering to take my trash out. The first time I let them, I was shocked they actually expected to be paid a "tip" for the task.

Posted on March 19, 2009 at 11:30 am Oops, I must have gone overboard with my comments. Many apologies. Done in haste, a bad nature of mine.   The value of money is not learnt in its amplitude but usually from the hardship endured in its scarcity. If one is to reward children with money, then one is also to look into how that money is being used.   During my childhood, I used to observe the frugal spending ways of my parents, how they tried to cut cost at every corner and raise the family. I saw much creativity in how i.e. my mother used as little groceries to come up with a tasty meal, how my father used his handiwork and mended many broken things.   I used to carry the lunch box to school and spent less at the canteen and the pocket money was never in excess. And yet the piggy bank gets filled-in by the end of the month. It wasn’t a hard life but the lessons raised my awareness about being thrift and in limiting my needs.    So, our forefathers knew better the value of money. There are too many distractions out there for the present generation. For them spending seems to be easy without being aware of the hardship of earning it in the first place.   So until we could instill in them the idea that a purchase has to be out of necessity and not for trivial pleasures or competing with next door neighbours, the true value of money will never be realized. As this great man puts it:   Don’t spend your money till you have it.                                                  Thomas Jefferson, U.S. President (1743 – 1826)