For our family, our kids have certain things they're expected to do like picking up their toys, straightening their rooms and getting their dirty clothes together to be washed. For those they don't get paid. But for other "chores" they do. Oldest DS straightens the kids bathroom (doesn't have to clean it, just pick up towels, let us know if they need more soap, etc.) and helps out with his younger siblings as necessary and for those things he gets paid. Anything that is above and beyond, as deemed by us, being their "duty" we compensate them for. They get a base allowance of $1 just for being our kids and then get 25 cents to a dollar more based on the extras that they did that week. I'm sure as they get older and can do more, like mowing the lawn, washing the car, etc., the extra amount will go up.

I put no. I believe a child should do chores simply because they are a part of the household and everyone in the household has to put in their fair share. I think a child should receive an allowance because it is part of teaching them money management. I always had an allowance. It was not tied to chores. There were things I was expected to do and if my mom asked me to do it - set the table, take the garbage out, dishes, mow the lawn - I was expected to do it. But it never affected my allowance. And I've turned out to be the most careful/frugal with my money as I learned early on how to save my allowance.

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I think you have to be careful either way that you are not bribing your child. I know a family whose kids will only do things if they get rewarded. What are they going to do when they are out on their own and realize no one is going to pay them to wash dishes or take out the trash? I think that my children will have chores to do because I think it is important for them to learn these skills. They can earn money by doing chores that require more work or only occur a couple of times a year. I plan to give my kids an allowance as a means of teaching them money management.

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No. DD has to do her chores even if she doesn't get her allowance.

DD doesn't have to 'earn' her membership into this family. She is already a member of the family and benefits from all of the rewards - and all the responsibilities.

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I was going to write the exact same thing.

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Mom to dd (age 9) and ds (age 11)
blogging daily about purpose and personal identity

I never had an allowance growing up. I was given money for the things I needed up until I was old enough for a job (15 years old) and from then on I paid for everything myself. As a kid, I was expected to keep my room clean, get good grades and help around the house. I did and my parents provided for me. I am not sure what we will do with the kids when they are older, but I do know that they will help and be rewarded in some way for good behavior, and good grades.

I always paid dd by the chores she did. Each chore was worth so much and if she did it with out whinning or if she did extra chores that wasn't posted she got paid a bonus.

To me this taught her that if she wanted something in life (extra stuff) than she had to work, save up and buy it.

A lot of times after she saved up for something she decided that she it wasn't worth her money to buy it.

I can see the argument for both sides and haven't made up my mind yet. (Or we haven't, I should say.) Our DD is too young.

But just from my own experience growing up, our parents paid per chore, with some chores a specific child's domain. I can't remember the system for keeping track, but every week or so we would get the money. However, we had to put half in savings and each had our savings account.

This worked very well for us. I can remember really enjoying the sense of being able to control how much money I could earn, and I remember trying to find more chores I could do when I was trying to save up for something. Of course when we grew older and got our own jobs, we kept doing those chores but for free (on our own initiative, our parents didn't have to ask us).

I really liked that sense of control, being able to earn money. But I do agree that every child should be taught to contribute to the family even when money isn't involved. I think we will probably end up doing a combination. She will start doing chores before she's old enough to earn money, but at some point we will add on some possibilities for her to earn money. But DH is for an allowance. So we're still working on it!

I am torn on this one - I can easily see both sides of the debate. However, my kids had chores to do long before we started allowances so technically we have never told them you have to do your chores or no allowance. I don't want them to think chores are optional - one of my kids would probably be willing to give up a week or two of allowance if it meant no chores - I think chores are part of being a member of the family. I don't get paid for my work around the house and either does DH.

Now, I do pay extra money for help with big jobs, which gives them some control. For instance, one of my boys helped rake leaves and the other didn't - they had the choice to make extra money or not and I didn't make them feel they had to help out.

We just started giving our 4 1/2 year old an allowance earlier this year. Yes, it is tied to chores (and other things we want to encourage him to do) but he is also expected to do certain things that aren't part of the allowance/chore system.

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Stephanie
Mom to: Caleb (8/03), Ian (9/05), & Lucas (11/08)