Paying kids to do their chores: The pros and cons of employing your own children
Chores suck. Never have I been more aware of how much time and effort is spent on daily household tasks than after 12 straight months of having nowhere to go and nothing to do except make a mess at home. I’m pretty sure there’s a saying that goes something like “many hands make light work,” right? Well, when it comes to my kids, many hands definitely make more work.
Now that my kids are old enough to really help out around the house (ages 6 and 8), I am constantly challenged with finding the right chores for them to do, motivating them to actually do those chores, and just generally teaching them responsibility. All of these challenges have led to many conversations with other parents around the topic of paying kids to do chores, but I’ve found that there is a very mixed bag of opinions on the matter.
Here are some of the pros and cons of paying your kids to do their chores and I’ll even reveal what we do in our house.
Pros:
Paying kids for chores is a great introduction to the workplace. You have a task to do - it isn’t always fun - but that’s life. When kids learn that earning money is tied to doing a specific job, it can provide the motivation to find other ways of generating an income through more entrepreneurial means.
Earning money is a jumping off point to learning how to save money for long-term goals. Providing a source of income is one of the easiest ways to teach the value of a dollar and the long-term benefits of saving.
Putting a value on specific tasks gives kids a sense of control and ownership over their earning potential. If more chores means more money, some kids may decide it’s worth their while to do even more to help out around the house (just be sure to set some limits or get ready to fork over some real dough).
Cons:
Paying for chores makes it optional. When a task is given a specific value, it becomes a choice. Eventually, if your child deems that the task is not worth the price they are being paid, they may decide to skip it altogether.
Chores are a family affair and living together is a team effort. You’re not being paid to maintain a clean and organized house, so why should they? When there is an expectation that everyone in the family has to pitch in, it can teach a different kind of responsibility to pull their own weight.
Not all chores are created equal. When chores are tied to money, it teaches kids that those are the only tasks required of them and everything else is mom or dad’s problem. While it’s helpful for everyone to take ownership of specific tasks, sometimes we need to pitch in elsewhere. If there is an established expectation that kids should help wherever they are needed, it will make it easier to get them to switch from task to task without having to re-negotiate their salaries every time.
At the end of the day, it’s a personal preference that has to make sense for you and your family.
While my husband and I have waffled on the subject for years, we do not pay our kids to do their chores. They each receive a weekly allowance that is fair and reasonable for their ages. This allowance is not tied to any specific requirement or behavior; it is simply used as a tool to teach them some basic money management skills. They are both expected to help around the house with things like cleaning their rooms, folding laundry, setting the table for dinner, and other miscellaneous tasks I need help with at any given time. It’s not always easy to get them to help, but for us (and for now) it works.
Please weigh in on the debate! Do you pay your kids to do chores? I’d love to hear why or why not and if you care to share, what chores do they do?