Children and Money

Teaching Children How To Earn Money:

Allowances, Chores and Other Services

Teaching children from a young age about having to work to earn money is a great way of instilling a number of valuable lessons that would otherwise go unnoticed in kids who simply receive a set allowance each week. By making youngsters work for their money, they learn about how much they have to work or save up to buy something they really want. This is a vast improvement compared to children who simply throw a tantrum or demand that their parents buy things for them. As the kids grow up and enter their teens and early adulthood, these lessons will certainly serve them well in helping them to continue practicing responsible financial habits.

Parents can start by creating a family program of chores with clearly marked dollar values of each chore. Choose age-appropriate chores so that each child does contribute to the household work safely. It certainly helps to talk to the children and discuss ways of saving or earning more money. Of course, if they consistently do a good job, they can be rewarded in some way, perhaps in terms of a monetary bonus or a special trip or treat. The following sections outline plenty of tips on setting chores and allowances with additional information on how to help kids earn more money.

Chores

Kids should understand that doing chores isn’t simply about earning money. As members of the family, they have a duty to pitch in and share the workload along with everybody else. For example, younger children can clean their rooms, fold laundry, make their beds or feed pets. Older kids can be introduced to more advanced chores, such as cleaning the bathroom, clearing snow or leaves outside, emptying the dishwasher or taking out the trash. In the resources listed below, you can find a number of different systems of chore charts to help keep everyone’s household responsibilities well organized and easy to understand. Children also gain a sense of achievement from seeing their chores checked off on a public list and earning money from their efforts.

Allowances

Depending on the family’s situation, it is wise to determine a rough guide as to the amount of money that each child is allowed to earn. Some families set a fixed price for each chore and allow kids to choose which chores they’d like to do, while others use a fixed rate for each age, increasing in increments each year. You can also add to the system by suggesting that chores done without a reminder earn their full value, while chores that are only done after several reminders have a percentage of their monetary value deducted.

Other Ways for Kids to Earn Money

It is important to teach kids other methods of earning money to help them learn about entrepreneurship and to exercise their creativity and business skills. Apart from the age-old lemonade stand, explain to them that they can earn money by offering services to other people, such as mowing grass or babysitting for the neighbors. Alternatively, they could arrange a garage sale with friends (and some adult supervision!). Help them to brainstorm and then go through their ideas to give them some tips and pointers. Older children can be encouraged to get a part-time job at a local store or for a family member’s business. There are many government grants for young entrepreneurs and it’s never too early to start!

Additional Resources

Help kids keep track of their money by setting up a money journal where they log their income, spending and savings. Buying them a piggy bank will help them feel in control of their finances and add to their sense of pride when they continually earn more money. Teach them to save up for items that they were planning on buying, especially those that count as splurges. These can include movie tickets, a new video game or toy and so on.

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Children and Money

Teaching Children How To Earn Money: