One of the main responsibilities of a parent is to instil good values, morals and beliefs. With that being said, parents also need to teach children certain life skills that they can utilize in adulthood.
The debate of whether you want to pay kids for doing household chores or not has been an ongoing battle with no correct answer. If you are still teetering in the decision to pay kids for chores, then read on to learn what your kids learn when you pay them for chores. You may be surprised.
Strong Work Ethic
Kids who are paid for chores feel they are reaping a reward from their tasks. While some chores may not be something you wish to pay for, there are larger tasks you could assign a monetary value to. Homey app allows you to do this easily by marking chores as either responsibilities or jobs. When you take the time to pay kids for chores they start to develop a strong work ethic. They understand that they will lose out on money if they slack and in turn their internal drive to earn cash increases. This teaches your kids a good solid skill of knowing they must work to earn money for their wants as well as needs.
Learning from Mistakes
Paying kids to do chores helps to teach them money management skills as well as proper money spending decisions. It’s much easier to teach your kids the lesson of wasting $4 than it is to have them learn with a $100 spent as an adult. Paying your kids for chores and being consistent on having them pay for some extras they want in life will in turn teach them to learn from money spending mistakes. This will encourage a good mindset to spend wisely when they are adults.
How to Save Money
When you pay kids to do chores and start making them responsible to pay for their wants in life, it helps them learn how to save money. Perhaps your kid wants the next best video game console, but they only earn $5 per week. If this is a true desire of your kid, they will come up with a creative way to save that money or work for more money and in turn have the sense of pride that comes with saving money for something they really want.
Learn the Value of Money
We all know that experience trumps everything else. Kids who grow up getting paid for chores will have a better concept of the value of money than kids that don’t get paid for chores. Having some sort of allowance for higher level chores will help your kids learn the value of a penny, a dollar and perhaps a ten dollar bill as they get older. The value of money is something we all need to learn in order to succeed in adulthood.
Overall there is no right or wrong answer when it comes to making the decision to pay your kids for chores. Perhaps have discussions with your spouse regarding this topic, see what you two can determine as a solution that works. Each of these life skills and lessons we shared today matter when it comes to raising kids to have good decision making skills as adults.
About the Author – Brandy Ellen Tanner is a Positive Lifestyle blogger who works from home while raising her 3 children. Learn more about Brandy at BrandyEllen.com and read her other parenting articles at ParentInfluence.com.