by Amanda van der Gulik
Do you believe in children doing household work for money?
I mean how else are children going to learn where money comes from right?
Do you think children doing household work for money is a good idea? Even if you want to use chores as a way to teach your kid about where money comes from?
I didn't used to!
But now I'm wondering. I realized that it's great to have a strong opinion like I had when it came to paying my kids to do chores but that's not always helpful to others to have such strong opinions when they may not match their own.
Let me give you an example: When you were expecting your first kid did you get a ton of advice...well meaning advice, but like a TON of it?
Some of that advice felt great. It fit perfectly with what you yourself believed but some of that advice actually ended up causing you stress and self-doubt.
You know what I mean right?
I remember being completely overwhelmed, not knowing what way to go. Wanting to please everyone and be the best new parent I could be. But feeling very overwhelmed not knowing what the 'right' thing to do was.
Well, that's how I felt about children doing household work for money too. You see, I always had a very strong opinion that children shouldn't get paid for doing household work and I had some very strong reasons for that too. But then I started my business teaching children about money and one of the first questions I got asked by parents was whether or not they should give their children money for doing household work in the form of an allowance.
You know, so they would have some money to learn how to manage their money.
Well, that got me wondering. Was I giving parents the best of myself as their coach by just telling them what to do based on my own opinions rather than giving them the tools to figure out what would work best for each one of their family situations?
Everyone's life situation is different and as such we all need to make our own decisions. We have a right to feel good about our choices too.
So I decided to start asking my colleagues who were also in the field of financial education for children and get their opinions too.
What I found was pretty amazing, and also not amazing at all... there were VAST opinions on children doing household work for money!
Yup, you guessed it. I felt overwhelmed once more! Ugh!!
Then I remembered the best piece of advice that my midwife had given me back when I was about to become a first-time parent...
Click here to check out what she said on my blog here, you WON'T believe it!
So back to children doing household work for money...
I want to share with you some of the reasons I never believed in giving money for household work and then I'll share with you some of the new reasons I'm now open to the idea (with restrictions) ;)
Reasons against children doing household work for money:
• Children should do household work as part of their regular family life and not expect to get paid for doing them. They won't get paid to do them once they're living on their own.
• Entitlement mentality - if we teach our children that they will always get paid for doing their household work then we're creating that mentality that they always 'deserve' to be paid for doing everything they do and that builds a false reality. Once they enter the grown up world, they will be sadly surprised that life does not work that way.
• It just gets way too expensive! Who can afford to pay their children for doing all their household work!
• AND...click here to find out the MOST IMPORTANT reason NOT to give your kids money for doing chores!
But like I mentioned above, I have grown my outlook by talking to others and looking at the idea of children doing household work for money from a different perspective. Here were some of the pros that I found.
Reasons for children doing household work for money:
• It's a way for children to get their first experience at earning their own money without needing to leave their safe nest. Especially for those moms and dads who don't have a lot of time on their hands to help their children find their own ways of making money.
• And it definitely makes..... click here to find out the biggest pro for children doing household work for money for sure!
Now as you can see, I'm still sitting more on the side of the fence that goes against children doing household work for money however, I am open to certain household work being paid for.
This is how I mainly look at it, if I was not going to get to the chore myself and was actually seriously considering hiring a professional to come and do the chore for me then this is a great opportunity for my own children doing household work for money.
Here are some examples:
• Cut the Lawn - if I already paid someone to take care of the lawn then why not pass along that earning opportunity to my kid instead? But if mowing the lawn is not something that I would have otherwise paid someone to do, then I would consider it a normal family chore and therefore not pay for it.
• Babysit - If I normally had a paid babysitter come in to take care of my children and one of them is now of age (and maturity) to take over this task then I would consider paying them for it, for special situations: like if I worked out of the home after school and needed a caregiver, or if we were going on a date night, etc. I would NOT pay if I just needed to do some grocery shopping (when I would otherwise just take my kiddos along with me.)
When I was 14 and my mom had hired a live-in nanny for the summer vacation. After one week... click here to find out what happened and some more ideas for chores that you CAN pay your kids for!
Hey family do help out as a general rule, and our children need to learn that too. So as a general rule of thumb, if it's a task that should be treated like a normal family chore, like making their bed, doing the dishes, helping with the laundry, vacuuming, etc. then no, don't pay them any money for that. It's our job as parents to teach our children how to do those things so they're ready to live on their own once they get older.
However, if it's a chore that you were otherwise going to hire a professional to do anyway, then absolutely children doing household work for money in this way is perfect!
AND...you may find that your kid's inner entrepreneur may start to bud out...they may start thinking outside the box and creating new household work that you hadn't yet thought about but would really like to have done.
Learning how to bargain and negotiate is also a great skill to teach our kiddos!
Besides children doing household work for money have you thought about other ideas for giving your kid an allowance? This video may help:
I hope you found this article helpful and that it has given you a sense of where to go from now with regards to children doing household work for money. If you enjoyed it, then please pay it forward by leaving a supportive comment on my blog and sharing it with your friends.
So will your children be doing household work for money? Let me know in the comments below...
Here's to you and your kid's success!
Cheers...Amanda van der Gulik...Excited Life Enthusiast! ;o)
P.S. Want to teach your kid about money? Want to get all the household work done that need doing in and around your home? ...AND want to make sure your kid doesn't EXPECT to always get paid to help out with the household work? Then look no further, click here to read the full article and I'll give you some great tips and tricks about children doing household work for money that you'll really like!
Amanda uses story-telling to teach children and teens the fundamentals of cash so your kid will learn these in a fun and memorable way, without feeling like they're being TOLD what to do! Amanda has been a special guest on Radio Disney, featured in The Costco Connections Magazine both in Canada and the USA and on numerous parenting shows around the globe. For a short time, Amanda is giving away
7 FREE Gifts, including "50 Money Making Ideas for Children and Teens" and "Allowance Secrets: To Give or Not to Give?"
Visit www.TeachingChildrenAboutMoney.com, to grab your free gifts before they go away!
Do you believe in children doing household work for money?
I mean how else are children going to learn where money comes from right?
Do you think children doing household work for money is a good idea? Even if you want to use chores as a way to teach your kid about where money comes from?
I didn't used to!
But now I'm wondering. I realized that it's great to have a strong opinion like I had when it came to paying my kids to do chores but that's not always helpful to others to have such strong opinions when they may not match their own.
Let me give you an example: When you were expecting your first kid did you get a ton of advice...well meaning advice, but like a TON of it?
Some of that advice felt great. It fit perfectly with what you yourself believed but some of that advice actually ended up causing you stress and self-doubt.
You know what I mean right?
I remember being completely overwhelmed, not knowing what way to go. Wanting to please everyone and be the best new parent I could be. But feeling very overwhelmed not knowing what the 'right' thing to do was.
Well, that's how I felt about children doing household work for money too. You see, I always had a very strong opinion that children shouldn't get paid for doing household work and I had some very strong reasons for that too. But then I started my business teaching children about money and one of the first questions I got asked by parents was whether or not they should give their children money for doing household work in the form of an allowance.
You know, so they would have some money to learn how to manage their money.
Well, that got me wondering. Was I giving parents the best of myself as their coach by just telling them what to do based on my own opinions rather than giving them the tools to figure out what would work best for each one of their family situations?
Everyone's life situation is different and as such we all need to make our own decisions. We have a right to feel good about our choices too.
So I decided to start asking my colleagues who were also in the field of financial education for children and get their opinions too.
What I found was pretty amazing, and also not amazing at all... there were VAST opinions on children doing household work for money!
Yup, you guessed it. I felt overwhelmed once more! Ugh!!
Then I remembered the best piece of advice that my midwife had given me back when I was about to become a first-time parent...
Click here to check out what she said on my blog here, you WON'T believe it!
So back to children doing household work for money...
I want to share with you some of the reasons I never believed in giving money for household work and then I'll share with you some of the new reasons I'm now open to the idea (with restrictions) ;)
Reasons against children doing household work for money:
• Children should do household work as part of their regular family life and not expect to get paid for doing them. They won't get paid to do them once they're living on their own.
• Entitlement mentality - if we teach our children that they will always get paid for doing their household work then we're creating that mentality that they always 'deserve' to be paid for doing everything they do and that builds a false reality. Once they enter the grown up world, they will be sadly surprised that life does not work that way.
• It just gets way too expensive! Who can afford to pay their children for doing all their household work!
• AND...click here to find out the MOST IMPORTANT reason NOT to give your kids money for doing chores!
But like I mentioned above, I have grown my outlook by talking to others and looking at the idea of children doing household work for money from a different perspective. Here were some of the pros that I found.
Reasons for children doing household work for money:
• It's a way for children to get their first experience at earning their own money without needing to leave their safe nest. Especially for those moms and dads who don't have a lot of time on their hands to help their children find their own ways of making money.
• And it definitely makes..... click here to find out the biggest pro for children doing household work for money for sure!
Now as you can see, I'm still sitting more on the side of the fence that goes against children doing household work for money however, I am open to certain household work being paid for.
This is how I mainly look at it, if I was not going to get to the chore myself and was actually seriously considering hiring a professional to come and do the chore for me then this is a great opportunity for my own children doing household work for money.
Here are some examples:
• Cut the Lawn - if I already paid someone to take care of the lawn then why not pass along that earning opportunity to my kid instead? But if mowing the lawn is not something that I would have otherwise paid someone to do, then I would consider it a normal family chore and therefore not pay for it.
• Babysit - If I normally had a paid babysitter come in to take care of my children and one of them is now of age (and maturity) to take over this task then I would consider paying them for it, for special situations: like if I worked out of the home after school and needed a caregiver, or if we were going on a date night, etc. I would NOT pay if I just needed to do some grocery shopping (when I would otherwise just take my kiddos along with me.)
When I was 14 and my mom had hired a live-in nanny for the summer vacation. After one week... click here to find out what happened and some more ideas for chores that you CAN pay your kids for!
Hey family do help out as a general rule, and our children need to learn that too. So as a general rule of thumb, if it's a task that should be treated like a normal family chore, like making their bed, doing the dishes, helping with the laundry, vacuuming, etc. then no, don't pay them any money for that. It's our job as parents to teach our children how to do those things so they're ready to live on their own once they get older.
However, if it's a chore that you were otherwise going to hire a professional to do anyway, then absolutely children doing household work for money in this way is perfect!
AND...you may find that your kid's inner entrepreneur may start to bud out...they may start thinking outside the box and creating new household work that you hadn't yet thought about but would really like to have done.
Learning how to bargain and negotiate is also a great skill to teach our kiddos!
Besides children doing household work for money have you thought about other ideas for giving your kid an allowance? This video may help:
I hope you found this article helpful and that it has given you a sense of where to go from now with regards to children doing household work for money. If you enjoyed it, then please pay it forward by leaving a supportive comment on my blog and sharing it with your friends.
So will your children be doing household work for money? Let me know in the comments below...
Here's to you and your kid's success!
Cheers...Amanda van der Gulik...Excited Life Enthusiast! ;o)
P.S. Want to teach your kid about money? Want to get all the household work done that need doing in and around your home? ...AND want to make sure your kid doesn't EXPECT to always get paid to help out with the household work? Then look no further, click here to read the full article and I'll give you some great tips and tricks about children doing household work for money that you'll really like!
Amanda uses story-telling to teach children and teens the fundamentals of cash so your kid will learn these in a fun and memorable way, without feeling like they're being TOLD what to do! Amanda has been a special guest on Radio Disney, featured in The Costco Connections Magazine both in Canada and the USA and on numerous parenting shows around the globe. For a short time, Amanda is giving away
7 FREE Gifts, including "50 Money Making Ideas for Children and Teens" and "Allowance Secrets: To Give or Not to Give?"
Visit www.TeachingChildrenAboutMoney.com, to grab your free gifts before they go away!
