Why I think kids should be paid to do chores…

Last week I wrote about why I refuse to rob my kids and there were some fantastic tips and comments.   In the comments there were a lot of people who talked about not paying their kids to do chores around the house because they are a part of the family. I do see what they are saying, but do disagree to an extent.  Our kids are expected to do certain things around the house without being paid, like make their beds, clean up their bedrooms, and help clean up the downstairs before bed.  But they are paid for certain chores.  My son gets $0.25 for taking out the garbage,  we also pay him $5.00 for scrubbing my kitchen floor (on his hands and knees with a rag).  My daughters don’t get paid yet because they are still learning their basic chores and how to get those done.

I am reading Dave Ramsey’s and Rachel Cruze’s new book called “Smart Money Smart Kids“. Rachel Cruze is Dave Ramsey’s daughter and the book is all about how Dave raised her to be smart with money, and how Rachel viewed being raised that way.  Dave writes about the argument about not paying your kids for doing household chores, this is what he had to say:

“Every time Rachel and or I present the commission idea to a group of parents, we have at least one parent who disagrees with us. They argue that children should do work around the house just because they are part of the family, and they should not expect to get paid. I agree, but if you don’t involved a money transaction in a few chores, you lose all the teachable moments in the work, spend, save, and give principles. Our children had a few chores that were paid commission items, and the rest of the work they did because they were part of a family. It is an act of love to help your mom and dad with the dishes, and it is not an optional act of love.  These non-paid chores help teach kids how to be good citizens of their church r community, later products adults who willingly volunteer to help others.”  Quote from page 28 – 29 in the Smart Money Smart Kids book.

I’ve been able to teach our children so much because I pay them for some of their chores…  They do not get allowance, they earn their money from doing above and beyond chores.

Let me tell you a story about my 8 year old son that happened after he saved up his chore money for a month:

On one occasion, my son and I were shopping at one of our favorite bargain stores, TJMaxx.  He found a toy he’d been looking for –A Sonic Hedgehog Race car. The problem was, it was one dollar more than he had from the money he had saved up. He asked if he could borrow the money from me, but I said no. Instead, I offered to take him home and earn that dollar by doing a couple of household chores. I also promised him that we would return that day to the store for the race car. He agreed, and when we got home, he energetically cleaned up his bedroom and the back yard.  I gave him his earned dollar, and saw the sense of accomplishment on his face.  True to my word, we drove right back to the store, where he bought the toy with his own money. Lesson learned.  And then some.

These are the types of opportunities that I feel would have been missed if I didn’t pay him for his work.  He worked hard to save his money, he made the decision to go home and work harder to get something that he wanted.  The main theme throughout this story is WORK…He worked and he got paid for it.  He SAVED his money, he tithed to church, he saved some more and made a hard decision to leave that toy on the shelf to come home and clean some more.  That was an amazing opportunity.

The Smart Money Smart Kids book is filled with little nuggets of information that can help you raise your children in this culture saturated with marketing.  Today is the day is comes out and I highly recommend this book!

“Why do you think that your kids should or shouldn’t get paid for doing chores?”