Wow! The debate on whether or not children should receive allowances for chores is pretty extensive. With summer coming up it may be the time to consider instilling some kind of system with your school aged children, especially if they stay home during the day. I’ve seen some great posts and articles on making sure kids do certain things before they are able to be free to enjoy a lazy, carefree, summer day – things like daily chores.

There are lots of thing to consider in this long time debate. There are definitely two sides to this argument for sure. I think that each family can definitely make their own decision based on what fits their goals and needs in their own life. Should we give our kids an allowance?

Pros:

• Paying children for chores around the house teaches them that a good work ethic will be rewarded, and that if they don’t do their jobs they will not get their money. If this is your strategy don’t forget to follow through on not paying them if they skip out on their chores.
• Working for an allowance provides parents with a head start on teaching children the value of money and of saving their money. I’ve heard a few great methods of teaching your child to save their money, most with different jars. Some parents give their children an amount per week, lets say $2.00. The child then has two or three containers or “banks” to put their money in. They have the save bank, the need bank and the spend bank. Their money gets divided into three containers with parents deciding how much should go in each container weekly. What I’ve read is that half goes into savings, and then a quarter into each need and want categories. This is a great way for children to understand that they do in fact have to work for their money, and that it can take a long time to have the amount of money they need to buy what they want. As kids get older they’ll also learn that saving more money allows them to buy better toys, while when they’re young they may choose cheaper toys that break easier.
• Giving an allowance gives you the opportunity to discuss the value of money so much more frequently. The conversations are endless. Think of the things we spend money on weekly for our children that they possibly don’t appreciate or even notice?

Cons

• Having to come up with money to pay children weekly.
• Family life and chores are a family duty. The whole family lives together in a home and working together is how they make things work. Paying children to do their part may make them feel like they can “get off the hook” by simply not being paid for their chore. That chore still needs to be done though, so who’s going to do it?
• Hearing “how much will I get for doing that?” Paying children for chores may give them the impression that work is not worth doing unless it’s paid for.
• Paying children for help around the house may make them less likely to do something just to help out, unless they’re getting something out of it.

  After many years of back and forth allowance giving and not giving, well, we still haven’t figured it out exactly. We have one child that does weekly chores for an allowance. She organizes her day to include seven chores. Another child feels pressure with a daily list and does whatever chore is asked of her, but does not collect an allowance for that – that’s her contribution to our home. When she feels she needs spending money for something she will give herself the task to organize her week around daily chores in order to get enough check marks to collect her allowance. Our son also knows that he has to do what is asked of him and also does not collect an allowance. There is no jealousy about this, they see the work that gets done daily for the allowance and feel it is fair. Is this right? I’m really not sure, it’s working for us right now. It certainly takes some of the load off of our shoulders and all help is definitely appreciated in our busy lives.

However you choose to help teach your child some responsibility – hats off to you. It truly is good for them to learn about what is done daily in a home and how to take care of their own things – they will need to do this one day and they’ll thank you for preparing them. I definitely felt prepared heading off to college and caring for my own space because of what I learned to do when I was growing up.