My friend Connie has a post up today, called Make the Kiddies Pay.
It’s a good post, it’s a good philosophy….at least I think so. It’s how our family operates as well.
We try to provide ways for our kids to earn money, then we expect them to pay for the extra things they wish to have. It works out well, teaching real world living practically. I don’t think I’ll ever have to teach a formal “business” or personal finance course to my children – the subject is just incorporated into everyday life.
In her post, Connie asked her readers to let her know how they handled kids and money. Here’s a little something extra that our working kids do, that blesses the rest of the family.
When our sons mow yards, they use our mower and weedeater. We also pay for the gas, oil and maintenance. Mom (that’s me) has a small amount of re-arranging of the day to haul the kid and the mower/gear to the lawn to be mown. The other kids take on extra responsibilities while the workers are out earning their money – there might be extra supper clean-up, or more babysitting while mom delivers the workers. After tithing (giving 10 percent back to God’s work) they put another 10 percent into an envelope called The Family Fund. Since everyone works to help support the young person as they gain independence and real world work experience, it is just a way that said young person can give back to the family. This is not something that we have ever enforced – it’s not a hard-nosed rule. It’s just something that we suggested that we thought might help us to build each other up, to make the ones at home feel thought of and to give them something to look forward to. The sacrifice of extra work, for the benefit of the older ones, brought them blessing too.
Last year, our oldest sons saved up enough money to buy a zoo pass for the whole family, for the entire year. That one gift has given us at least 10, wonderful outings throughout the year. No money out of my pocket, we breeze through the gate and I always remind the youngest ones to say “thank you” to their brothers for another beautiful day.
This year, the savings doubled. More work – more funds. The Family Fund is set aside to help us take a family vacation, most likely at a cabin in a campground somewhere, with a lake for fishing and swimming. Nothing extravagent, but for us it will feel like Disneyworld.
The hearts of the little ones will be turned to the older ones. They will look up to their older brothers and sister and think they hung the moon.  I can’t imagine how great it must feel, as a teen, to know that you’ve given your family a huge gift that they would not otherwise be able to afford.
That’s how we handle kids and money. Thanks, Connie, for asking!
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August 28th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
oh how very timely!!
i’ve been researching homeschool material and am interested in starting the whole ‘money’ thing with the kids. was looking at even getting something like the crown financial kids thing (book with lessong, verses, etc.). they would enjoy that i think, but i’m not sure how nitty gritty practical they get. so, loved this post.
questions:
do you give allowances too? i’m assuming not since you didn’t mention it and connie didn’t either. if not, do you have just normal chores that they are always responsible for and then special jobs that they get paid for?
the ‘jobs’ that my kids have on their checklist of daily things to do are make bed, dress, put pj’s away, they have 2 general tidy up times during the day, shower, and brush teeth. they also help to put away their laundry…the oldest, all by himself. about to be the case with the second oldest. then we have a kitchen chore chart that they switch jobs up every day with, all revolved around lunch and supper (breakfast is pretty lax…mama’s not a morning person and is still trying to wake up…ha ha ha)…things like getting water cups for everyone, clearing table, scraping plates, sweeping, etc.
my kids are 5 1/2, 4 1/2, almost 3, and 17 months. the 17 month old gets off pretty easy (ha), but she sees and imitates, so therefore, even she helps. it’s so true, isn’t it, that the more you train your oldest ones, the less you have to train your little ones.
anyway, there aren’t that many more things around here that they are capable of doing…or that we want them to. and remember…we also live in another country…we have a maid. eventually the maid will be worked out of a job, although it’s considered a bit rude around here to not have one (seriously…super cheap and helping ‘the less fortunate’).
anyhoo, i’m sure we can come up with some jobs for our kids to earn money for them to learn about money with…and not just be given it. the point is, though, we want them to start getting money somehow so that we can teach them about it.
thoughts? suggestions?
thanks so much! loved these posts.
August 28th, 2009 at 6:47 pm
I love the “family fund” idea. I’ve never heard of that before! Very cool!
August 31st, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Holly, I love the idea of having the older ones give 10 % to a family fund. I won’t even get into all the reasons I just think it’s a fabulous idea! I’ll file that idea away for the future. I have an 11-year-old daughter who is counting down the time until she can babysit for money.
September 1st, 2009 at 5:33 am
Michawn, forgive my delay! I have neglected the blog…
As to allowances, I think I’ve tried everything over the years.
When our oldest were all younger, yes, we did allowances, and then gave extra money for extra work. That worked pretty well.
Now that they are older, though, they are earning their own money from outside jobs. My son Nick is 15 and mows lawns. He also gets lots of offers to paint fences, trim bushes, clean out gutters, etc. If anything, he is too busy!
For the little ones, I do like you do. They have basic chores, but not too many. Each year I try to add a little bit more based upon their ability. They pretty much make do with birthday money – I think that they are just now getting old enough to earn some allowance. Well, some of them are.
I think at your kids ages you are doing a really great job. You’re giving basic family and self care responsibilities – and your kids are still pretty young!
I noticed that Connie pays her kids for specific jobs – like making Mom’s bed and cleaning her bathroom and another kid gets paid for cleaning up the dog doo doo in the backyard. I think that’s great! It ties work into purchase power. (But I’m pretty sure Connie’s kids have chores to do, too.)
I think one area that I fall down in is since I have big kids, I haven’t expected my younger ones to do a lot. That is changing….
No, not harshly, but just appropriately. They do need to learn to help and to be responsible.
September 1st, 2009 at 5:18 pm
Jenn, so nice to see you! It has been a long time!
September 1st, 2009 at 7:25 pm
Thanks for linking!
I love the Family Fund idea, too, Holly!
We do have regular (unpaid) chores that must be done every day. Some call this child labor, but we tell them to be quiet and finish loading the dishwasher.