Do you believe in kids doing chores for money?

I mean how else are kids going to learn where money comes from right?

Just look at these kids and the crazy places they think money comes from…pretty scary!

But back to chores, do you think kids doing chores for money is a good idea?

Even if you want to use chores as a way to teach your child 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 kids doing chores for money 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 child 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 kids doing chores for money too.

You see, I always had a very strong opinion that kids shouldn’t get paid for doing chores 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 kids money for doing chores 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 kids and get their opinions too.

What I found was pretty amazing, and also not amazing at all… there were VAST opinions on kids doing chores 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…

She said, “Go with what works for you. Say thank-you for their advice. Tell them that you will definitely keep their suggestions in mind and then just go with what works for you!”

I think that was one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever gotten and I wanted to share that with you. I find it very helpful when I find myself overwhelmed.

So back to kids doing chores for money…

I want to share with you some of the reasons I never believed in giving money for chores and then I’ll share with you some of the new reasons I’m now open to the idea (with restrictions) 😉

Reasons against kids doing chores for money:

• Kids should do chores 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 kids that they will always get paid for doing their chores 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 kids for doing all their chores!

• Employment mentality – By kids doing chores for money we are setting them up with an employment mentality where you only ever get paid for work done that someone else has asked you to do. I want to encourage our kids to think creatively, come up with ways to earn money on their own that requires getting their brain juices flowing. Building a more entrepreneurial mindset instead.

But like I mentioned above, I have grown my outlook by talking to others and looking at the idea of kids doing chores for money from a different perspective. Here were some of the pros that I found.

Reasons for kids doing chores for money:

• It’s a way for kids 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 kids find their own ways of making money.

• It definitely makes getting the chores done a lot more fun! I think this one is the biggest pro for kids doing chores for money for sure!

Now as you can see, I’m still sitting more on the side of the fence that goes against kids doing chores for money however, I am open to certain chores 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 kids doing chores for money.

Here are some examples:

• Mowing the Lawn – if I already paid someone to take care of the lawn then why not pass along that earning opportunity to my child 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.

• Babysitting – 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 my mom had hired a live-in nanny for the summer vacation. After one week, our nanny didn’t want the job anymore. (Not because of us kids, she liked us, but because we lived in the country and there was no access to a social life for her, she wanted another placement in a town or city instead.) So instead of hiring a new nanny, my mom offered me the job. I was old enough to care for my younger sister and old enough to do all the housework that the nanny was responsible for. I got $20/week – yes, I know I’m giving away my age now! 😉

• Painting the fence or the house (inside or out) – if you were going to pay a professional to do it anyway, then offer this opportunity to your child instead. It may not end up being the perfect job you were hoping for but they will probably do a half-decent job of it and you’ll probably get a discount on the cost anyway to make up for that. 😉

Hey family do help out as a general rule, and our kids 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 kids 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 kids doing chores for money in this way is perfect!

AND…you may find that your child’s inner entrepreneur may start to bud out…they may start thinking outside the box and creating new chores 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 kids doing chores for money have you thought about other ideas for giving your child 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 kids doing chores for money. If you enjoyed it, then please pay it forward by leaving a supportive comment below and sharing it with your friends.

And don’t forget to ‘like’ our Facebook page so you’ll get the latest updates to keep you inspired and motivated to helping your child’s financial intelligence continue to grow! Thank-you for your help.

So will your kids be doing chores for money?

Let me know in the comments below…

Here’s to you and your child’s success!

Cheers…Amanda van der Gulik…Excited Life Enthusiast! ;o)

P.S. Want to teach your child about money? Want to get all the chores done that need doing in and around your home…AND want to make sure your child doesn’t EXPECT to always get paid to help out with the chores? Then look no further, read the article above and I’ll give you some great tips and tricks about kids doing chores for money that you’ll really like!

P. P. S. Did you find this article helpful? If so, then please help me empower more kids, teens and their families by leaving me your own comments below and clicking the ‘like’ button and ‘sharing’ it with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. Thank-you for helping me empower more Healthy Wealth Mentality kiddos. We need them! 😀

“Together we can raise kids and teens who are money savvy and get to follow their dreams because they know how to handle and value their money…and not come back crawling home to mom and dad to get them out of financial trouble!”