- Mom, Do I Have To?
My lady friends and I were sitting around and the big question came up. .. On one hand it may be a bit confusing to tie allowance directly to chores because we should be teaching our kids to help around the house when it’s needed, right? Not just when it is part of their “to do” chores. Also, it can be very easy for parents, like me, to lose track of the chores that have actually been completed. One friend suggested that a good idea to solve this dilemma is to add a little bit of structure to the list of “to do” chores. I think that it’s a great idea to create a daily chart (large enough to be noticed by your child and in a visible area) with a list of the expected chore duties and write the earning next to it (e.g., Monday, vacuum room, $2.00). In addition, we should encourage our kids to continue to help around the house even when it’s not on their “to do” list.
In our home, we try to use our kids allowance as a means of teaching financial responsibility; for example, we can encourage them to save their allowance for a toy or gadget that they have had their eye on, a birthday gift for grandma or grandpa or a trip to the movies. As for paying kids to do well in school, they should be praised with hugs or maybe a celebratory treat for doing well, but never with money.
QC Supermom 