Money Chores

I originally had this as part of my other post, but I think it deserves a space of its own.

We had a special family meeting last Sunday about money. Brady had gotten after the kids for not doing their chores right and one of the children (I won't say who, but you can guess) said, "Maybe we would do it better if we got paid." WRONG answer. We tried an allowance once, and we regretted it. It started a whole entitlement issue, with the kids starting to say that we "owed" them money. Parents do NOT owe their children money and I was not going to have them speaking to their father that way when he is working so hard at 2 jobs!

So we got all the kids together and told them that if they wanted, we would start paying them for their chores. But if they wanted to get paid for their work, they would also have to pay for the goods and services they receive. I took a white board and had them list all of the goods & services they would have to pay for. Some of the things included food, clothing, electricity, laundry, television, etc. They realized real quick that what they receive from Mom and Dad far outweighs their chore contributions. We talked about how chores are something that we do because we belong to a family and everyone needs to help out. I pointed out how ridiculous it would be if I told their Dad that I wanted money for the chores I do around the house and how it's just as ridiculous for them to do it.

But we understand that they want a little spending money and it's good for them to learn some financial skills. I asked them, "What did Dad do when we needed more money?" They answered that he got a 2nd job. I asked them,"What did I do when we needed more money?" They answered that I started selling hats. So we told them that if they wanted extra money, they could also get a 2nd job. We are now instituting 2nd chores which we call "money chores." I will pick extra chores every week that they can get paid for if their regular chores and homework are caught up. We have got to free our kids from the epidemic of entitlement and the quest of "something for nothing" that is so prevalent in our society. I really feel that parents who give without requiring are saddling their children with a future handicap in both their professional and social lives. For a great discussion on this, read an essay entitled "The Cornucopia Kids: Giving Children Too Much May be Giving Too Little." It's by Bruce Baldwin and it's a 16 page article published by the National Association of Secondary School Principals. If you can find it, it's awesome! I'll get down from my soapbox now.