Hello!

My girls are now in grade 1 and have a bank account, how do you introduce pocket money to help around the house, so they don’t think they only get paid to do basic chores. Don’t want when old I am not doing that until you pay me? But at them same time teach them to appreciate the value of money


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  • Personally we didn’t want to take the route of paying pocket money for jobs/chores our kids do. Jobs and chores are part of life and we just expect our kids to do their part without paying for it.


  • It’s a hard one sometimes. They need rewarding for helping but also beed the right message. Following for tips myself


  • I did not want my daughter to associate doing basic chores with getting paid. I wanted her to help out around the house as part of her role in the family, and she does. She doesn’t get a weekly allowance. Instead, I will give her money for reasonable expenses.


  • Also, to add to my previous comment below, when chores are not done, no – pocket money for those chores! It does work! :)


  • I think if you give and allowance but with the provision that all chores are completed etc. This way its theirs to lose.


  • when my kids were younger, I got them to learn to put their toys away, make their bed (yes at grade 1)…I don’t touch their bed to fix it up until they are at school. anything of theirs in the loungeroom to put away.
    my kids now 7 and 9. we just introduced washing the dishes few days ago. they clean and make their beds, put clothes away, take rubbish out, unpack the dishwasher. now washing the dishes.. so they only take turns washing the dishes from sat to tues, wed and thurs its homework nite so no dishes but stil have to do other chorus, Friday is free day of no chorus but make their beds. $5 each week….this week is the first week, so far its working as normally kids would be fighting so i make sure theres team work chorus except for their room and put their clothes away they have to do it themselves.


  • Chore charts work with designated chores earning a designated amount of money. Extra chores and self initiated chores get extra money. A set payday, at the end of the week is a good idea.


  • I forgot to say that any jobs done with being asked to be done get added praise, but no extra money – we praise them and tell them that is exactly what being a great family member is all about and how its great to see them being so proactive and we love the initiative. (we might then lay off the asking for help with other jobs – but don’t tell them this – we never refuse or discourage help when offered).


  • I didn’t want refusal to do a job unless money was paid, so we chose to give a weekly allowance (the same amount as their age) with an expectation that they would do whatever jobs were asked of them each week. We find it works for our family and there is help with with whatever each week brings – shopping, dishes, table setting/clearing, gardening, vacuuming, car washing, laundry and anything else we ask for help with. We couch it in terms of “everyone has to contribute to the household chores”


  • I have a chore board in the kitchen.
    My girls have to earn the money by doing simple household chores, half the money goes into their bank accounts and the other half they are allowed to spend, this way they learn to save and also that they have to earn the money, not just expect it to be given to them for nothing :-)


  • I didn’t consider pocket money until my kids asked me. I suggested jobs they could do, they picked their jobs, but it didn’t last long. They soon tired of doing jobs. That’s ok, I saved money too


  • It’s a tricky one. I also wanted to link pocket money with helping out, but also didn’t want chores to be refused down the track, or to cost an arm and a leg. I didn’t start right. At first I gave a TINY amount of ‘free pocket money’ ($5) per month which was received at end of the month when bedrooms (main chore) were tidy. (this was total discretionary money and wasn’t needed for school lunch or anything). I then scaled it back depending how many days the bedrooms ‘failed’ (yes, mean!). It became difficult to manage because of the difficulty of assessing whether the bedroom was ‘tidy’ but one positive was that small amounts of money were involved, which made it possible to transition to a different system where it was possible to earn 10c for different tasks. The deal was they could choose the task (from wiping out cupboards and drawers, to taking out rubbish, to drying and washing up, to sorting laundry, to making sandwiches, to preparing breakfast, vacuuming, weeding, ironing, washing the car, detailing the inside of the car, wiping down walls, dusting, cleaning bedrooms, changing the sheets, hanging out washing and so on) and get 10c for doing each job. At the moment it is working ok. After racking my brains I created enough jobs for them to earn almost $10 one month and ‘beating’ the previous system, seemed to motivate them. I will set limits on how much they can earn and sometimes don’t make a chore on offer to do. And if motivation wanes I sometimes offer 50c for something. Otherwise I let it wane until they realize they need money! I’m also thinking of making some chores compulsory as they get older, so they have to be done before any of the extra money can be received. If they don’t do the compulsory then there is nothing of the extra money. I was surprised how willing they were to do chores for just 10c but I think they actually enjoyed learning new things, having new responsiblities and the money didn’t really matter, which was good. But at the same time I could give them something so they could start saving and making decisions on purchases. I hope you find an answer and maybe some of theses ideas will help. I’m sure each child is different though!


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