Our Kids and Chores, Allowances and Jobs

Our children were required to do chores around the home and yard
as part of being members of our household.
We also gave each of them small allowances, no strings attached,
for the same reason --- they were a part of our family. 

We tried various chore charts and ways of making assignments, most of which stand out as being neither extremely spectacular nor very  effective. That was usually because Dave and I weren't good at remembering to make the assignment changes each week!

With this chore chart, the assignments didn't change:

The chart we finally settled on had each child with different responsibilities on each DAY of the week, (rather than a weekly and weekly-changing assignment) with a plus of one free or light day scheduled for each child.

We tried to get all of Saturday's chores done early so we could have lots of free time, but as they got older they preferred to take their free time in the mornings----sleeping in. We didn't do chores on Sunday.

Like I mentioned in the caption, each child also got a small allowance. Even though it wasn't a large amount, we taught them to save half.

When the allowance wasn't enough:


On occasion even the youngest kids would have need of additional funds. When that occurred we would come up with extra things they could do around the house or yard to earn money. These were JOBS.

As they got older their financial needs increased faster than our income increased. We would all put our heads together to come up with ways that one, some, or all could earn extra money.

When our oldest were 11 and 12 they cared for homes, yards and pets while neighbors and friends were on vacation. They earned enough money to fly to California to visit their grandparents.

Among other things, the next four contracted lawn mowing jobs, delivered fliers and had paper routes. All the kids "babysat." (Boys really like to have guys stay with them!)

As a family we would find part-time evening jobs so the kids could earn extra money (still saving half). We cleaned and painted the inside of an old house. It was hard work but we earned enough money to go to Disneyland.

Over a period of years, our last three sons were employed to clean a fitness club, a manufacturing plant and an insurance company. Most of these required our help, and if not our help, at least our time and transportation. We were ecstatic and very tired by the time the youngest one turned 16----but it was all worth it.

"Tune In" tomorrow for their ventures into REAL employment.