A few days ago, the DJs on the radio station we listen most often, were hosting a small debate regarding children and chores. Some of them thought that it was good to pay or reward children for doing chores. They cited it as a great opportunity to help them learn how to work for the things they want. One DJ said it would help them realize that “money doesn’t grow on trees!” Others in the discussion said that they felt it was important for children to realize that tasks and chores are part of every day life so they shouldn’t get rewarded for doing their part in the family.
The DJs decided to ask their listeners to call in and give their opinions. I arrived at my destination before I could hear what anyone had to say on the matter. My arrival also knocked me out of my chance to call in and share my perspective (not that I really would have because I am not usually one to do that). However, since we have a blog I thought I would write about how we handle it in the Hair family…
In our family we establish something called Morning Chores and Evening Earnings.
The basic idea here is that each child has a few morning chores that they need to do each day after breakfast. Morning chores take only about 5-10 minutes and our kids do these before we meet for family devotions and get off to school.
If they do their morning chores well, they each have the opportunity to do other chores in the evening only this time they are able to earn money for doing these chores.
Our morning chores include:
- Sweeping the kitchen floor
- Unloading and loading the dishwasher
- Handing out vitamins to all of the kids/feeding and watering the dog
- Wiping off all counter-tops
- Collecting trash from all of the small receptacles around the house – combining it and taking it to the outdoor garbage can
- Clearing the pathway in the garage of their toys and shoes and other items that may have been collected there
- Evening earnings are sometimes the same tasks as above that need to be repeated plus additional chores like:
- Vacuuming the family room
- Putting away miscellaneous toys and game pieces that are out of place
- Cleaning out one of the vehicles or sweeping out the family bus
- Windex and wipe the patio windows
You get the picture!
We feel it is important for our children to contribute and learn to serve the family, but we also recognize that the family is a great place to learn things – like the relationship between working and earning!
How do you do it?
What do you think?
Post below! Let us know.
Even while we were with you, we gave you this command: “Those unwilling to work will not get to eat.”
~ 2 Thessalonians 3:10 ~
Joyella
February 25, 2017 at 1:40amGrowing up, each of us kids had our own jobs to do around the house every week, respective to our ages (the older we got the more chores/responsibilities). We also received a monthly allowance. I never really wondered if I’d still get my allowance if I didn’t do my chores because that really wasn’t an option. I knew what I was expected to do and did it. I think it was good because it taught us we don’t get paid for every little thing we do… that’s just part of being in the family. But we also learned how to budget our money because we knew exactly how much we’d get every month.