Unison Parenting Blog: Chores vs. Allowances

Two things can both be true:

1. Kids need chores.

2. Kids need allowances.

Kids need chores for their development. They must understand what it means to participate in a family, to run a household, and to get through things you don't really want to do. It builds their self-esteem, self-discipline, and ability to work with others as a team.

Kids need allowances. OK, "need" is a strong word. But they do need experiences with money long before they become adults. They need to understand the value of money - what it can buy, what it can't. They need to grow their ability to walk into a store and determine they don't see anything worthy of their money. They need to figure out how to earn and save for what they really want.

But the maxim that children need both doesn't mean they go together.

In my view, kids should be assigned age-appropriate chores from age 4 or perhaps earlier. The basic chores of the house should not come with a monetary reward. Such chores are performed for the value they provide to the household and to the child's growth.

Outside of chores, I believe kids should have an allowance so they can learn about money. The amount should be age-appropriate; I came to agree that the financial needs of a sixteen-year-old are much higher than those of a six-year-old. The allowance amount doesn't grow linearly but exponentially, for you math types.

I don't mean an allowance should cover all their financial needs. Beyond gifts, a child needs the ability to earn extra money, whether it's from a paying job outside the family or an opportunity to make cash inside the family.

How does one find a paying job inside the family? With above-and-beyond, non-daily/weekly chores, such as cleaning out the garage, washing the car, or other larger tasks that come up where the parent sees an opportunity to outsource some work to the kids. I either assigned some amount based on the task or paid an hourly wage (typically less than minimum wage, but occasionally more).

My next two posts will be about teaching money management, first for younger kids, then older.