Did you do chores as a child?
Do you have your children do chores?
At what age should chores be assigned?
I grew up with 2 brothers and a sister, and let me tell you – we all did our fair share of chores.
I remember shovelling snow in the winter, cutting grass and weeding in the summer, cleaning bathrooms and vacuuming year round.
(The list is much longer – but do you really want me to list it all?)
I remember thinking the reason my parents had 4 kids was so they wouldn’t have to do any work around the house. Funny how differently you look at things when suddenly you are the one working all day to pay the bills and buy stuff for the kids.
But what is the right age to start assigning chores?
Right now we don’t have the kids do much more than pick up their toys (sometimes that is sporadic at best), put their dirty clothes in the laundry hamper, and go back to the front door and put their shoes, jackets, mitts and toques away.
I guess this leads into my next question – allowances!
What is the right age to start giving an allowance?
Do I make the kids do chores to get their allowance, or should they be expected to do those chores and the allowance is a bonus?
Anyone have any suggestions for things that have worked for them in the past, or currently?
Can you start chores at 2??? haha. As far as chores go, I'm lost on that one.
ReplyDeleteGail Vaz-Oxlade (Till Debt Do us Part lady) put a good article together about teaching children about money and it includes info on allowances. It seems as though she suggests giving allowance to teach kids about money, rather than to reward them for basic chores. That said, if there are things that are outside of normal chores that you feel they could get paid for, I am on the "go for it" team. I figure if they are eager enough to work, I'm happy to give up the cash.
Here is the link to the article I mentioned: http://www.gailvazoxlade.com/articles/kids_money/mom_can_i_have.html
Sarah