Wondering if you should pay your kids for doing chores? Don’t miss these great tips on why we pay your kids for doing chores, and why you should too!
There are a lot of great reasons why we pay our kids for doing chores. I know this is quite the controversial topic – should you pay your kids for doing chores or should they just do them?
There are a lot of opinions on this topic! I’m by no means and expert mom and I don’t claim to have all the right answers – but I am going to share with you what we do in our house around this topic.
There are a few reasons why we pay our kids for doing chores in our family. As a mom, I want to work myself out of a job, I also believe God created us to work, and I want to teach my kids that if you work, you get paid! It’s as a simple as that!
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Printable Chore Chart & Printable Chore Price List
In order to teach my kids these lessons, I’ve created a few tools to help. Grab my printable Kids Chore Kit which includes: Kids Chore List & My Chore Chart.
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Are You Guilty Of Doing Too Much For Your Kids?
I used to be the mom that did way too much for my kids, and in the end I was exhausted. Trying to keep up with the housework and taking care of the kids while staying sane was impossible! It’s a ton of work to be a stay at home mom and keep life running smoothly. As my kids got a little bit older, I realized I needed their help if I was going to be able to keep up.
One day I read a post about chores and it hit me like a ton of bricks – If a child can play a game on your iPad, he/she can help with chores.
If a child can play a game on your iPad, she can help with chores! Click To TweetWoah! Yes! Yes and more yes! Why had I been doing so much around the house without their help? Why? There is so much truth to this – If a child can play a game on your iPad, he/she can help with chores. Sometimes, we as moms, do way too much for our kids.
Guilty Of Helping Too Much
You know how it goes, your oldest child might tend to spill too much. It’s easier for you to pour the milk for his cereal, rather than letting him try, spill, learn, and you’re on your way out of a simple job. I’m totally guilty of this.
I hate messes, so I tend to do way too many little jobs for my kids just to make sure there is a not a huge mess to clean up afterwards. But I know I’m just making my job as a mom harder in the long run. Kids need to learn to help even if it makes a bigger mess.
Even as I write this I want to yell at myself and say “Katrina, stop helping them so much!” – I still struggle with this daily. Do you struggle with this need for control? I totally do.
Redoing Your Kids Work
Confession time…when I was a kid I remember my mom making me and my brother do a lot of chores around the house. The worst one of all was dusting and I had the lucky job of dusting this curio cabinet that had glass shelves. I had to take every single little Precious Moments figurine that my mom collected off each shelf and make sure the shelf was dust free.
This job was so awful! It was meticulous and took what seemed like FOREVER to do. The worst part to doing a lot of my chores as a child was that even though I ‘thought’ I was doing a really good job as a 10 year old, my mom would always come along after and redo whatever I had just done, because it wasn’t done as good as she would have done it.
It always used to really drive me crazy – I never could figure out why I needed to waste the time doing the chores if she was just going to redo them anyways? I catch myself doing the same thing to my kids. Why??? I have no idea, except that I’m a crazy neat freak. But
I’m trying to make a real effort not redo their work anymore. Instead, I’m trying very hard to remember how old they are and what their actual abilities are and then assess their level of efficiency and effort.
Your kids absolutely should be helping you around your house. They live there for free – so they should pitch in and help! Click To TweetYour kids absolutely should be helping you around your house. They live there for free – so they should pitch in and help!
Why Your Kids Should Do Chores
Besides wanting to work myself out of a job as a mom, I also believe God created us as a human beings to work. It’s part of who He made us to be. I know for me personally, I love to work really hard on a project and then once I’m done, there is nothing better than relaxing! But, the relaxation isn’t nearly as fun if I have not worked hard first.
Working hard first is something I want to teach my kids. Playing video games is much more fun once you have earned it. And, I believe God created us to be that way – to work hard, consistently, and then to enjoy the reward of your hard work.
God created us to work hard, consistently, and then to enjoy the reward of our hard work. Click To TweetWhat The Bible Says About Chores
2 Timothy 2:6 (NLT)
And hardworking farmers should be the first to enjoy the fruit of their labor.
Proverbs 12:24
The diligent find freedom in their work; the lazy are oppressed by work.
WISH PLANNING A PARTY WAS A PIECE OF CAKE?
My mission is to teach my kids that if they don’t work, they won’t get paid. Which is real life. If you don’t get out there, work, and do a good job, your boss will not pay you.
We need to teach and model the same for our kids – if they want to buy that special toy at the store, they need to get busy working first, so they can earn and save up for that toy.
Proverbs 21:25 (NLT)
Despite their desires, the lazy will come to ruin, for their hands refuse to work.
Once they have worked hard week after week and have saved enough money to buy that toy themselves, they will enjoy that toy so much more! Your child will probably also take better care of that toy too – because they realize just how hard it was to earn that toy.
Proverbs 12:14 (NLT)
Wise words bring many benefits, and hard work brings rewards.
What Chores Should Your Kids Do?
What chores should your kids do? And should you pay them? Yes! Yes! Yes! Click To Tweet
So the next question becomes, what chores should your kids do and should you pay them to do those chores? Here’s what I think. Yes, yes, yes!
I’m a big Dave Ramsey follower and I love his ideas on chores for kids! Dave believes that you, as parents, are the boss and your kids are your employees. As a boss your kids work for you, and they should earn commission.
When they work, they get paid. When they don’t work, they don’t get paid. Simple as that.
When they work, they get paid. When they don’t work, they don’t get paid. Simple as that. Click To TweetIt works too! It also teaches kids the value of money. Rather than just paying them because they breathe, this forces them to equate working hard for the money they want to spend on fun things.
Commission money training works really well when your children are old enough to really understand what their money can buy them. We have three kids, ranging in age from 7-13.
Offering commission for chores started when my oldest was 4, and I wish I would’ve started sooner. With our youngest, we started much sooner, because we knew what to expect and what chores were age appropriate, especially for younger kids .
At the age of 4 my oldest son did very simple chores and was paid at the end of each week. From his weekly commission earnings he would then distribute that between three different envelopes for Giving, Saving, and Spending.
In fact, my kids were given a nifty set of budgeting envelopes from their aunt that makes it really fun to store their money in and years later they have not abandoned them.
Jobs Your Kids Can Earn Money For
Our kids have embraced the commission-for-chores concept and they each have a list of chores based off their ages and abilities, that they earn commission for. This process forces the kids to see chores not so much as a chore, but as a job they can earn money for.
When they have something special they want to buy, we often have some requests for extra chores in order to earn bonuses, and sometimes they do business deals with each other – getting paid from a sibling to do their chore! It’s great! To a mompreneur like me, I love seeing business deals happen between my young children (and so far, they have been very fair)!
WISH PLANNING A PARTY WAS A PIECE OF CAKE?
Printable Kids Chore Kit
Just in case you are wondering what type of chores I have my kids do each week and what I pay them, grab my printable Kids Chore Kit which includes 2 great printables: Kids Chore List (list of age appropriate chores and prices) and My Chore Chart (fill-in printable sheet that you can hang on the fridge as a reminder to your kids of what they need to and also as an invoice for the boss on payday!).
All this talk about chores reminds me that I have a great recipe for Homemade All-Purpose Cleaner you will need for all that cleaning! It’s very frugal to make, with only 3 ingredients that you probably already have in your kitchen – much cheaper than buying a cleaner at the store! Give it a try and let me know what you think!
Do You Pay Your Kids For Doing Chores?
I hope this helps you understand why we pay our kids for doing chores. What about you? Do your kids do chores? What ages and chores do they do? Do you pay them? Would love to hear what you have tried and what works for your family! Hugs to all!
Moms, your job is to work yourself out of a job! Teach your kids to pick up the slack, contribute, and earn! Click To TweetRemember momma, your job is to work yourself out of a job! Teach your kids to pick up the slack, contribute, and earn!
Want to remember this post? Pin this post, Why We Pay Our Kids For Doing Chores, to your favorite Pinterest board right now!
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