The kids are earning money! This picture is from their first pay day. They were quite excited about it.
We are following the recommendation of our financial adviser, Dave Ramsey, and paying the kids a commission for working their assigned chores each week. It is not an allowance. Dave says that allowance is like welfare. He calls it commission, because they have to earn the money in order to receive it. That concept reminds me of something my Mom always says, "You don't work, you don't eat." My Mom is a big advocate of working hard and earning your way. I want my children to learn the wisdom of this principle as well.
I also want a cleaner house. So, I will secretly admit that one of my biggest inspirations to starting this chores/commission path was my own personal gain. I decided to start with the new school year. I designed a chore chart. I listed out a handful of chores for each child, based on age and ability. I am hoping the list will serve as a good template for what the kids should be doing each day, and the money will be the motivation to keep working at it.
Each child has the chore of making their bed, cleaning their bedroom, brushing their teeth, and picking up their things from around the house. The older kids have rotating chores as well. The rotating chores involve the cleaning of one room....the schoolroom or bathroom, for example. They are assigned that chore for 1 month, and then it will rotate off their chart and a new chore will rotate in. I am hoping that I will be able to teach them how to properly clean that chore item initially, and then they will maintain it without my assistance for the rest of the month.
So far so good. We have been utilizing the chore chart for 2 weeks. The biggest improvement I have noticed is that the bedroom floors are much more visible every day, and the kids' stuff is not all over the living room. It has been nice to have help with some of the other chores, like vacuuming and wiping down the kids' bathroom. Overall, the house has been cleaner. I pick 2 days out of the week that the kids have to complete their rotating chores, so that everything is cleaned thoroughly. I even gave one child the chore of cleaning doorknobs around the house, in an attempt to cut down on the spread of germs.
The commission prices average about 25 cents per chore. That is pretty low, but it is a start. I am expecting the prices to increase as the kids get better at their chores, and as the family budget is better equipped to pay them. Right now, the kids are pleased. They are learning about money...learning about saving, giving, and spending. We have even had a discussion about sales tax.
We have already had the experience of a child not completing all his chores, and not receiving all the commission. That is a tough lesson, but it was quickly learned. Jersey #3 is ready to tackle his chores this week, with much more enthusiasm.
Jersey #2 is the most money motivated of our children. She has been paying real close attention to my bedroom inspections, and working hard to keep her room cleaned up, and her rotating chores completed. She does not want to miss out on a single penny of her commission.
Jersey #1 has started asking to help out even more. She was eager to learn how to wash a load of her own laundry. I quickly complied with that lesson, and praised her for her efforts. Then, I made a mental note to start teaching each of the children to wash their own laundry when they turn 8 years old too. (That way, I only have 6 more years of doing kid laundry!)
The schoolroom is a big chore. The kids come and go, and leave messes all over. Jersey #1 was dreading that rotating chore on her list. I totally understood that. So, I empowered her with the authority to call back her siblings who made the mess, to have them clean up after themselves. She is asked to help the youngest two siblings clean up, in an attempt to train them (and I make sure they work with her), but her older two siblings must return to the room and clean up their mess when she asks. All of a sudden, those rotating chores took on a new look.
When the kids were able to remind their siblings to clean up the messes they made...instead of having to clean up after their siblings....suddenly everyone starting doing a better job cleaning up after themselves. That improvement alone has been worth every effort I put into this process.
We are following the recommendation of our financial adviser, Dave Ramsey, and paying the kids a commission for working their assigned chores each week. It is not an allowance. Dave says that allowance is like welfare. He calls it commission, because they have to earn the money in order to receive it. That concept reminds me of something my Mom always says, "You don't work, you don't eat." My Mom is a big advocate of working hard and earning your way. I want my children to learn the wisdom of this principle as well.
I also want a cleaner house. So, I will secretly admit that one of my biggest inspirations to starting this chores/commission path was my own personal gain. I decided to start with the new school year. I designed a chore chart. I listed out a handful of chores for each child, based on age and ability. I am hoping the list will serve as a good template for what the kids should be doing each day, and the money will be the motivation to keep working at it.
Each child has the chore of making their bed, cleaning their bedroom, brushing their teeth, and picking up their things from around the house. The older kids have rotating chores as well. The rotating chores involve the cleaning of one room....the schoolroom or bathroom, for example. They are assigned that chore for 1 month, and then it will rotate off their chart and a new chore will rotate in. I am hoping that I will be able to teach them how to properly clean that chore item initially, and then they will maintain it without my assistance for the rest of the month.
So far so good. We have been utilizing the chore chart for 2 weeks. The biggest improvement I have noticed is that the bedroom floors are much more visible every day, and the kids' stuff is not all over the living room. It has been nice to have help with some of the other chores, like vacuuming and wiping down the kids' bathroom. Overall, the house has been cleaner. I pick 2 days out of the week that the kids have to complete their rotating chores, so that everything is cleaned thoroughly. I even gave one child the chore of cleaning doorknobs around the house, in an attempt to cut down on the spread of germs.
The commission prices average about 25 cents per chore. That is pretty low, but it is a start. I am expecting the prices to increase as the kids get better at their chores, and as the family budget is better equipped to pay them. Right now, the kids are pleased. They are learning about money...learning about saving, giving, and spending. We have even had a discussion about sales tax.
We have already had the experience of a child not completing all his chores, and not receiving all the commission. That is a tough lesson, but it was quickly learned. Jersey #3 is ready to tackle his chores this week, with much more enthusiasm.
Jersey #2 is the most money motivated of our children. She has been paying real close attention to my bedroom inspections, and working hard to keep her room cleaned up, and her rotating chores completed. She does not want to miss out on a single penny of her commission.
Jersey #1 has started asking to help out even more. She was eager to learn how to wash a load of her own laundry. I quickly complied with that lesson, and praised her for her efforts. Then, I made a mental note to start teaching each of the children to wash their own laundry when they turn 8 years old too. (That way, I only have 6 more years of doing kid laundry!)
The schoolroom is a big chore. The kids come and go, and leave messes all over. Jersey #1 was dreading that rotating chore on her list. I totally understood that. So, I empowered her with the authority to call back her siblings who made the mess, to have them clean up after themselves. She is asked to help the youngest two siblings clean up, in an attempt to train them (and I make sure they work with her), but her older two siblings must return to the room and clean up their mess when she asks. All of a sudden, those rotating chores took on a new look.
When the kids were able to remind their siblings to clean up the messes they made...instead of having to clean up after their siblings....suddenly everyone starting doing a better job cleaning up after themselves. That improvement alone has been worth every effort I put into this process.
I need to get a chore rotation in place. I haven't done that yet. Although they do have their own responsibilities - making bed, getting dressed, putting clothes away, cleaning up toys, brushing teeth, brushing hair ... but helping me CLEAN would be nice! Glad to hear it's going well.
ReplyDeleteI remember as a kid getting an allowance, but it was contingent on us cleaning our room to my dad's high standards by Sunday afternoon. And since we used that money to buy lunch (starting in middle school if we didn't want to pack our own lunch), there was a big incentive to get it done! I think I like the idea of having each chore have a worth though - we may have to try that when the kids get a little older.
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