We feel as though we are entering the stage of parenting where the time has arrived to hand out a little more responsibility to the boys, especially Reece. We have been sharing thoughts and opinions on the whole topic of chores, allowance, what age to start, etc.. We kind of jump back and forth between two ideas: 1) it being a good thing to be taught to be responsible with money, to see that a job well done is worth some kind of reward 2) and yet we don't want to create this attitude in our family that thinks you don't do any "helping out" unless you are paid to do it! We both feel like "family" is a "team" and we all have the responsibility to help each other out. I have done a little reading about it and see support out there towards incorporating an allowance and specific jobs. I think we would like to operate on a combination of ideas - creating regular duties that you do just to do (no "strings" attached), and then some extras that you get paid for if you do the job well without complaining.
Here's a few funny stories to give you some insight into what we are working with.... Apparently, these conversations between Benjy and I have not gone unnoticed by little listening ears. The other day, Reece entered the kitchen and here's what unfolded:
me: hey Reecer, would you help me out and carry this trash outside?
Reece: what are ya gonna pay me? (pause and a smile) because I heard you say you were gonna pay me for doin' jobs.
A few days later (as you can see, we haven't fine-tuned any real "plan" yet). I am in the kitchen and overhear this exchange between Reece and his Dad.
Benjy: Reece, if you clean this mess up, I will pay you 5 pesos (me, from the kitchen, shooting him a "look" - as the job was gonna take him 2 minutes, maybe, and that is like 50 cents!!)
Benjy continues: I will pay you 2 pesos.
Reece: Dad, you said 5 pesos. I will do it for 5.
Ha! We have a little negotiator on our hands so we better lay down the guidelines of this "responsibility" plan real well!
Any experienced parents out there want to give me some advice?!? What do you (or did you) do with your little ones? How much do you pay in this day and age? How do you/did you stagger the work & pay between different aged kids? Seriously, I would love to hear input as we begin to form our plan. Thanks!
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3 comments:
yes well, of my vast 6 months (almost 7 months) experience I have almost no advice for you. But I have heard of Dave Ramsey having a program that teaches kids about allowance and also incorporates tithing and saving. We have actually put Kate on an allowance schedule of our own.It goes like this every time she manages not to spit up on us we give her 1 penny..... Well she has no pennies yet...but she is really working on it. Love you guys!
Hi!
You've been a busy blogger. I love all the pictures and am so proud of your boys and you guys; they are so brave as well as you guys. My kids start "preschool" this week but like one day for Olivia and two for Maddi.
We have a chart with different chores written on them like: takes dishes to counter, picks up toys, help in garden, etc, etc. They get a star for doing one of them, but it is usually given to them only if they do these chores without a big fuss and especially if they do them without being asked. The stars are worth 5 cents. We started in like April and Maddi has like $1.30, so you can see that I don't put stars on quite as frequently as they do chores. But at this age they don't really pay attention. The stars do seem to mildly motivate them to help a little easier. I plan on letting them cash it is when it is full. So it could take up to a year. It's just standard size paper turned horizontally and then split in half. One half for Maddi the other for Olivia.
Ok. That was a lot of detail. You get the point.
Love you,
Kristi
This was always a tough one to decide on. My kids are older now (16, 14, 13 and 8) so it is actually easier in the chore area. We have them broken down into 4 categories and they rotate weekly so that if you have dishes this week next week you may have laundry detail. They don't get paid because we work together as a family.
When they were younger I had various chores they could do and if they completed them I would give them a prize. Pokemon cards were huge at the time so they frequently got a card for doing 3 chores. I believe the prize was money sometimes but never a large amount, maybe a nickle or quarter.
I taught the kids the value of money by taking them shopping with their birthday or special day money. They got to pick out their present but they had to decide between everything they wanted based on how much they had and we always stressed saving some for bigger items they wanted. Worked well with some of the kids but daughter 2 is a spend thrift and may always be. You raise them all the same you think but they all turn out differently. Good luck.
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