Age Appropriate Chores and To Pay or Not To Pay

[AlmiraGulch]

What kinds of chores do you assign your children?

 

My daughters are 12 and 6, and while they both do chores around the house I have to say that I think my little one gets away with doing considerably less than she could or should.

 

Do you do "chore charts?" Do you pay or otherwise reward for chores? I struggle with that, because on the one hand I think that children, as part of a household, should have to participate in the upkeep of the household without monetary reward. On the other hand, I also think they should have some way of earning money of their own so they can learn financial responsibility.

 

Please share! I'm looking for a new approach.

[coralloyd]

With my girls, they have their normal chores that they have to do because they are part of this family:

Trash

Make bed

Clean playroom

Feed dog

Put laundry away

Clean their room

 

However, I pay for any chores that they do above and beyond these. If they want to earn money, they ask what they can do. I look around to see what needs to be done and assign them something. Just the other day I needed the baseboards wiped, so dd5 did them and I payed her a quarter ;).

[Mari]

With my girls, they have their normal chores that they have to do because they are part of this family:

Trash

Make bed

Clean playroom

Feed dog

Put laundry away

Clean their room

 

However, I pay for any chores that they do above and beyond these. If they want to earn money, they ask what they can do. I look around to see what needs to be done and assign them something. Just the other day I needed the baseboards wiped, so dd5 did them and I payed her a quarter ;).

 

:iagree:

That's what we do. I don't want to pay my kids to do things they should do anyway for themselves or their family.

[MelanieM]

My children are 6.5 and 4 yrs (and baby any day!). Basically, the kids help out with chores while the adults do them, so we do whatever needs to be done as a family. They don't really have set chores that are just theirs, and I'm not sure if we'll go that direction eventually or not.

 

As for paying for chores, it's not something we would do in our family. Around here, you particpate in the running of the house because you're a member of the family. You get an allowance because you're a member of the family. These two things have nothing to do with one another. If my kids want to earn money as they get older, then we'll come up with creative ways to help them do that. But it won't be tied into what they do around the house, any more than it is for the adults that live here. (I don't get paid for doing the dishes, or have my pay docked for falling behind on laundry. ;))

[AlmiraGulch]

With my girls, they have their normal chores that they have to do because they are part of this family:

Trash

Make bed

Clean playroom

Feed dog

Put laundry away

Clean their room

 

However, I pay for any chores that they do above and beyond these. If they want to earn money, they ask what they can do. I look around to see what needs to be done and assign them something. Just the other day I needed the baseboards wiped, so dd5 did them and I payed her a quarter ;).

 

I paid my older daughter 2 dollars the other day to scrub the outside trash bins. It was great, because she wasn't expecting the money! I told her to do it, she did it without griping, so she earned a little cash. Plus, there is almost nothing I hate more than cleaning the garbage cans, so it was a total win-win!

 

What kinds of things do you think are appropriate for a 6 year old? Currently mine has to keep her room picked up, feed the cat and the hamster, put her laundry away. I think she can do more, but I remember when I was her age I think I had to do too much (windows, kitchen, laundry) and I don't want to be THAT parent. Not sure why I'm having this issue with her and I didn't with her sister.....