The issue with paying children to do chores around the home is greater than many parents realize. Becoming income earners means that children need to be good stewards with what they already have before you give them addtional buying power.

Some young children are much better stewards than older children and I have seen other younger children who are way off in terms of looking after their possessions.

So when deciding on paid chores for children, or chore allowances, there are many more factors to consider than just how much you should pay a child for a job.

Be aware also that some children, depending on the natures, can become very self indulgent when they start earning money. The think about things that they can buy with their money. This makes them very self centred. My advice is that if this is happening, then sit downa nd chat about it and withdraw any allowances for a season and work on the heart issues that have arisen.

Up until recently, we have not paid our children for chores. We expected them to do the work in their rooms and about the house because they were part of the family. These chores were their personal ones around hygiene, their room and our kitchen.

Other big chores like cleaning the car, weeding the garden, cleaning the fish tanks and grooming pets have always fallen to me. But now that my children are older and more responsible I feel they are ready to do these big jobs for pay.

Thus the paid chores for children in our home have evolved from being jobs that I no longer need to do but fall outside of the rank of “easy personal chores” and I then employ them to do these jobs for me.

I have a chart drawn up with pay categories for them to choose from when they are looking for a productive activity or wanting to earn money towards a specific goal.

The idea of paid chores for children may be shunned by some idealists as creating a mindset that “unless you pay me, I will not work.” But this is far from the truth.

I expect my children to do all their personal chores and help in meal prep and planning, setting and clearing the table and a host of other jobs around the house. My expectation is that they do the chores with a happy heart and to the best of their abilities. My children are thus finding their place in our family team by doing their part in the running of our home.

The benefits of teaching your children to manage money include:

Kids learn to make better decisions

Stop begging or asking for money

Learn the value of money

Develop greater self-esteem

Learn how to ask for what they need, not just what they want

Understand that money is about choice

Live their family money values

Make money mistakes in a safe and low risk way

We like to also teach our children about money using Money Matters for Kids or Money Matters for Tweens (11 - 14 years) or Money Matters for Teens (15 +) by Larry Burkett depending on the age of our children.

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