Paying your kids for chores

Do you pay your kids for doing stuff around the house?

My son is at that age (12) where I believe he needs to start learning some lessons on life, the value of a dollar, importance of doing a good job, etc.
I've pushed a little but have not gotten to the point where I "make him" do stuff.


It's hard for me to wrap my head around paying to do something like mow your own lawn and other things around the house.
But wifey grew up in a house where she got paid something for helping out.

4 kids here. I think I mainly had kids so I didn't have to clean the house. My kids have chores and do not get paid to do them. If Mom and Dad don't get paid to clean up after them, then they shouldn't either.

Now when one wants something special like a new game, Pokemon cards, etc. I will come up with a list of extra chores so they can earn that gift. I will have them wash the truck, pulling weeds, etc.

my boys had chores as soon as they were old enough to handle work. Never paid them, they were told all their needs would be taken care of. All their wants would be evaluated. Both are grown have great work ethics.

We provided our kids a modest weekly 'allowance'.
This combined with a roof over their head, three meals a day, and a cell phone, meant they were responsible to help around the house doing chores of various descriptions (taking out trash, feeding the dog, unloading the dishwasher, helping rake leaves, etc.)
There was no additional incentive or compensation.
We always thanked and loved them for their efforts, albeit they occasionally would put up a little resistance from time to time.

When I was a kid I had some chores that were expected of me like taking the trash out and mowing the yard that I didn't get paid for. But if I actually worked on the ranch doing things like building fence or plowing, I usually got paid.

Until my parents divorced, we were paid for some chores, but not all. Cleaning our room, no money...washing our parents' cars and work vehicles, we got $5 to $10/vehicle depending on size. Lawn mowing paid my sister $20, but it was a riding mower and an acre (she got the better end of that deal), household laundry (all the sheets, towels, etc.) and we hung our sheets and everything except towels on the clotheslines...that paid, as did vacuuming the house and mopping the floors...We also had to polish the furniture, which meant not just the tops, but the legs of the tables and chairs. We also had the privilege of polishing the paneling, including the baseboards, once a month...Yeah, Mom paid us for that work.

Mom would buy our school clothes that she deemed necessary, but other things like toys, clothes we wanted, etc. came out of our chore money.

First off, I'll say it is important for kids to do chores regularly. This teaches them responsibility, and it teaches them how to do essential tasks. Perhaps most importantly, it keeps me from having to do those chores.

Regarding money, my opinion is that if you are paying a kid, then the kid should have to use that money on their "wants." Doesn't really matter whether that money comes from an allowance, or from doing chores. They should have to pay for their toys, or to go to the movies, etc.

If you are not paying an allowance or for chores, then the parents will have to give them money as needed for those things.

we got 25c a week from the very early 60s till mid 60s when we got a whopping raise to 50c, saturdays if the parents wanted us gone we got an extra 50c and told to leave till the movies were over.

money went a whole lot farther back then.

we were expected to do normal kid stuff around the house, I even learned to change the oil on a 65 rambler ambassador for an extra 50c when it needed it.
I think it helped with the work ethic and sort of on money management, the money part came a lot later in life though.

The ordinary "keep the house running" chores, like helping with laundry, taking out the trash, or vacuuming the house, are unpaid.

But the dirty jobs, like scooping cat litter boxes or scrubbing toilets, are paid.

Some good info here.
I've been wondering on how to approach this. One thing I know right now is kids these days are SOFT.
It doesn't take much for them to throw in the towel and give up. I would say "at least mine" but other dad who I have been speaking with say the same.

They do as they are told and don't get paid.

I would have gladly scrubbed toilets and such, but my parents would have had to beat me to death trying to get me to mess with a cat litter box. And even after my death, I still wouldn’t have f-ed with their stupid cat litter boxes.

We never did pay them, earn your keep mentality here. In fact, my 22 year old has been mowing every week since he has been here after graduating college. He’s about to be gone to his new job in another state end of this month so I will be mowing again

As kids we were paid in room and board. If we balked at chores, dad would get a suitcase out and tell us we could go at any time.

This....

In order to be awarded your allowance, you had to complete your chores and aid in daily activities without b*tching about it. If you did anything wrong, you were not awarded your allowance.

I paid mine to do chores. I had 3. It taught them a lot and now they are all 3 great young adults.

Managing money, particularly deciding if they wanted something bad enough to wait on it and spend the money on it.
Earning toward a goal (eliminates immediate gratification)
Negotiating with each other to do each others’ jobs for more money or less work (lazy shows up real fast here)
Structure - knows what needs to be done and when. Expectations are clear.
Cause & effect, or, actions & consequences - no work = no money. work = money
Respect - respect me as boss dad. Respect each other where team work required.
Personal responsibility - keep your house clean. Do the job right. Cut corners = cut in pay.

I pay mine for now ages 2 and 5 for now just to show them what working to " buy a dress " looks like and to understand money. As they get older I will not pay them , that way they understand that my wife and i work hard so they can live here.

It also shows them that life isn't easy nor fair. I'm a little more " hard" than most but their colleges are all ready paid for and they won't have alot of chances to learn real life unless I show them .

Dad always paid me and my brother for mowing the yard, raking leaves, and general yard maintenance. He paid us based on how well it looked! If we did not do a good job, we got a meager 5 bucks. If we did it right, we got up to $20. Most of the time he gave us $20, but would keep $5 for himself. When we asked him why we could not have the entire $20, he would tell us, "Ya gotta pay Uncle Sam his share boys". I learned at a very young age that the "tax man" always got his money!!

Judging by these responses, the TFF leans a little democratic, but claims to lean Republican.


My folks made me WORK around the house. I had a solid 8-9 hour Saturday list, along with a daily list. Lack of success or participation on my part was dealt with swiftly….and it was painful. In return, I didn’t “pay” for extracurricular activities, such as football, baseball, soccer, fishing, 6Flags, etc.

I still don’t know the value of a dollar. I work hard, every day. I buy what I want when I want.

Lol………I never changed a diaper!

I never got paid for doing stuff around the house. If we (brother and I) complained he would say something like "That's why I had son's" Meaning to do chores. Or another favorite "I feed you don't I".

Nope !

The above is the perfect response .

I once paid my son $20 to mow the lawn --- then when he came in the house , I mugged him for the $20 , wanted to teach him life can be hard

I was raised on a small farm. I always had chores, feeding chickens, haying the cows, slopping the hogs, hoeing the cotton, hauling hay, well you get the idea, any farm work that needed to be done. My dad paid me by putting a roof over my head, food on my plate, and clothes on my back. The roof sometime leaked, the food was not always what I liked, and the clothes may have had patches on them. If I wanted money I could work for neighbors after I had finished my chores. I learned the value of a dollar and that money did not grow on trees. I also learned the importance of respecting authority. I loved my dad and today I wish that I could meet with him face to face to thank him for the way he raised me.

Basically told my son you have this list of stuff you’re responsible for. If you take care of the list we will take care of the rest.
It worked out well for all of us.

Meh, I see alot of " my parents had a roof over my head " blah blah. You weren't taught how money works though. You were just told to do it. You deserved better teaching ....I got the same thing in my childhood as well. How do kids know how to have a house if you don't teach them what money is?

Farthest thing away from liberal, just more evolved than 100 years ago.

Lots of RINOs on the TFF who really are moderates but just won't admit it because of the backlash.

We lived in a two family attached rowhouse which my unskilled father felt compelled to "renovate". I was forced child labor. Many lost summers and weekends doing aggravating, pissant work. Hauling buckets of lath and plaster down stairs, hand sanding parquet floors on my [censored] knees, screwing with ancient plumbing systems, etc. It was no coincidence, that after I left for college, the old man started PAYING tradesmen to come in and do the work I was doing.

The mere SUGGESTION of ME getting money for this work would've been met with derision and laughter.

I know the value of a dollar but it has NOTHING to do with the "lessons" I learned growing up.

Life's more complicated now. I remember dad after work getting me and going to the fence rows on the back roads in Agua Dulce to hunt rabbits under a fading light. Or hunting doves over plowed fields next pipeline right of ways or fox squirrels off the Cibolo. There wasn't money for chores. We got paid by trotlining trips to Mathis and such. That was 50 years ago. It's a lot easier now to throw money at it. That being said. I pay my son for grades. I never did until this year. It worked. Sad. But it worked.

Some house chores are done without pay (empty & load dishwasher daily) and some are paid. My 14 year old son makes $20 for mowing, edging and trimming the yard weekly. The neighborhood lawn services charge $30 but bring their own equipment. I will pay extra for pulling weeds and raking leaves. I tell him he is never going to get rich working for me so he needs to start looking somewhere else. If he finds another better paying part-time job, then I might have to resume mowing myself. I have told him that would be my problem and I could manage it. I would be happy to mow my own yard knowing my son was developing a work ethic.

I would pay my son for grades but he doesn’t look far enough in the future to put any extra effort in. He does just enough to slide by. If I paid for grades, high grades in English and Math would be worth a lot more than History and Band.

Paying kids

Only had one son. He got paid because he had somewhere to live, 3 meals a day, a cellphone and a vehicle when he was 16. Handing him money, no. Growing up I didn’t get paid and didn’t have near what my son had. I played all sports in HS and still worked to buy my school clothes and my 1st vehicle. So I made it a little easier on him.

I think this is a subject that differs greatly depending on raised in the burbs or country. For me out in the sticks, I didn’t have a set list of chores, but I was more EXPECTED to be a productive part of the house. Keep room clean, clean up after yourself, help Dad with pretty much anything outside. When it came to livestock, I knew what was expected day to day and it got done. My Dad worked in a steel mill for 38 years, I knew he worked his tail off so we could have what we did and no I didn’t get paid, and I never asked to get paid. When I got old enough to make extra money he was nice enough to farm me out to his coworkers. Made a hand and always got paid fair wages. Looking back the life lessons learned through that was the real pay. I’ll raise my kiddos the same way.

I paid my son a weekly allowance growing up. If he wanted something out of the ordinary he learned to save for it, or do more than the minimum expectation. I would pay the bills, back then there was no pay online option, at the kitchen table. Id pay him in Monopoly money and then he would have to figure taxes, utilities, etc… out of his Monopoly money. It was a great graphic on how quickly it can come in and go out. Thankfully today he earns enough as an adult to take care of himself and his family.

My 6yr old makes his own money. He plays video games and streams on twitch. He makes roughly $20k a month so technically I work for him. Imagine that. He pays me an allowance

I got an allowance each week for doing things besides the expected chores. Washing cars sweeping out garage are a few examples. Mowing picking up room and raking leaves were some of the expected

Give them 3 French fries when they eat a piece of broccoli at supper.