What do you pay your kids to do?

[flutterbee]

I'm sure we've discussed this before, but I wanted some fresh input.

difficult child is looking for ways to earn money. She has earrings that she needs to buy for her newly re-pierced ears. I traditionally do not pay for chores because I feel that should be done as being part of the family. And a paper route is out because it wouldn't be HER paper route; it would be OUR paper route. difficult child gets lost and I'd have to go with her and...it's winter and cold and rainy and...just NO. :cold:

So, I did give her some chores for tonight that really aren't *her* chores, rather mine, but they need to be done and I'm not at all up to it today and I'm paying her for them.

Anyway...here's the thing. She came to me asking what she could do to earn money and she's been working her tail off for the last couple of hours which is HUGE for her (folding clothes, sweep, mop, dusting, vacuum). Normally, 5 minutes into it and she decides she doesn't want the money that bad. So, there is definitely some maturity going on.

I need ideas on what you guys are willing to pay your kiddo's for.

by the way, I LOVE the new smileys! This one is sooo me today. :grounch_day:

 

[meowbunny]

If it's not one of her chores, it was always a way to earn extra money. The going rate would be $5.00 an hour (and she never knew that). I would triple how long it would take me to do the chore and then tell her she would receive X amount upon completion and it had to be done to "mommy standards" -- just okay wasn't good enough and would not get any money.

When she was 12, her chores were taking out the trash, putting up the clean dishes, cleaning her room, sweeping the kitchen every other day, dusting the living once a week. So, if she mopped or vacced or folded clothes or did the wash or cooked dinner (or even helped with dinner), she would get money for it. We also had a couple of neighbors who were than happy to let her do chores for them to earn money. Personally, I thought they always overpaid her, but it was their nickel!

 

[mrscatinthehat]

See I tend not to do it that way so I wouldn't be very helpful. I just do extras out of the blue. Never was good about paying for chores. Just can't rap my brain around it. I understand why ya'll do it but just doesn't work in our world.

Beth

 

[hearts and roses]

To earn money for chores she'd have to do something OUTSTANDING like rake the leaves, wash my car or H's truck, clean out the garage, vacuum the pool, those kinds of things.

My easy child and difficult child's normal chores were always dusting, emptying garbages, cleaning the tub and bathroom sink, emptying and loading the dishwasher, bathing the dogs, tidying their room, folding laundry. And in the spring they would be expected to help with yard cleanup, likewise in the fall. For doing these chores, I might spot them a movie pass or some ice cream money, maybe a sleep over with treats and a rental. They get to live here rent free with free food and entertainment, dinners out, family vacations, etc. We're a team so we all chip in the make the household run. That's my stance.

Anything over and above those chores is extra and I would pay them for it. Raking the lawn - $15. Washing my car - $10. Washing H's truck - $20. Cleaning out the garage - $10. Vacuuming the pool - $15. It also depends if they follow through with the chore, Know what I mean?? Oh, and weeding - that's a biggie in the summer. For that I would pay BIG money ($10/hour for help digging holes, planting and weeding, laying the ground cover, spreading mulch).

I also always suggest the hit up the neighbors we know to help with yard work, walk dogs, house sit, water plants.

 

[Josie]

I am also willing to pay $5/hour for extras. My 12 year old's chores are cleaning her room, unloading the dishwasher, folding clothes, and occasional odd jobs like bringing in groceries. We have paid her for raking leaves. She was just looking over my shoulder and agreed she would sweep the kitchen floor every night for extra money. We estimated 10 minutes/night so 6 nights would be an extra $5 per week. I'll believe it when I see it.

 

[ck1]

My difficult child has been able to earn extra money by getting good grades. Not for completed homework, since that has to be done anyway. But we would pay for A's and B's on tests. I don't remember exactly how much, but I do remember that it was a lot because we really wanted to encourage good grades.

Regarding chores, we do pay for things that are above and beyond what's expected. Examples would be watching little brother and sister, removing outside Christmas lights, bringing Christmas boxes up to the attic, sweeping and vacuuming first floor, cleaning my bathroom, first floor bathroom, or basement bathroom, mulching, weeding. Not sure what else. Most of these jobs would be under $10 (except the ones that take a long time).

 

[Abbey]

This is such a timely message for me. 18 year old easy child son is...well, in some sense a slacker. He gets good grades, works nearly a full time job, but it is all at our mandate. He does NOTHING around the house, including his personal space. His ONE household chore is to take out the trash once a week. That probably happens once a month.

Geez...if I had what he has now when I was his age - room alone, personal bathroom, use of our car, etc.

I'm really frustrated with this. Part of it is that husband doesn't follow through on consequences. You don't take out the trash? Not a problem for me. I take the keys to the car and your cell for a week. I think that would get the message clear and quickly. husband will state the consequence, but back down. Argh.

We have never paid our kids for chores. It's a family responsibility. If they take of their personal responsibilities and take the initiative to go above and beyond what is expected, then you most likely would get a reward. They rarely take that option.

Geez...

Abbey

 

[klmno]

I started a new "policy" with difficult child this past summer because I agreed that he needed to be able to get some of his own money but I wasn't comfortable just handing over a regular allowance amount each week (he's too unpredictable right now) and I agree with you that I felt like some chores are expected because he lives here and shouldn't be paid for them. Plus, he got in legal trouble last spring and I'll be payiing off that restitution for a long time. On top of that, it appears he's cycling- mania/depression, so who knows what I might be dealing with from day to day and he's having to try different medications.

So, I wrote the basic expectations down- 1) go to bed on time, get up on time, come home on time (this is listed as "met schedule"), 2) do assigned homework daily, 3) behavior reports are mailed to me each week from each class in school- these are expected to be good, and 4) chores at home- whatever I might need him to do, with a starting point to be about 2 1/2 hours of chores a week- this could go up or down depending on if school is out for break, he had extra dr/therapist appts, etc

Then I explained to him that he won't get paid much for any of these because about 1/3 of what it might be worth goes to me to pay back restitution (LOL), about 1/3 is what I think he shouldn't get paid because it's expected, and the remaining 1/3 will be what I will pay him for each of these. I might not have explained that well, but I assigned a low dollar amount to each ($1/day for homework, $0.50/day for meeting schedule, $1/hour for chore time). It gets tallied up at the end of each week and he pockets that amount. The most he can earn in a typical week would be $19, in which case I give him a bonus and give him $20. This doesn't happen too often! He likes it and it has seemed to work well. It has helped him see that a little mistake is not a big deal, but several good days or several bad days in a week really can make a difference!

 

[susiestar]

My kids get paid for specific jobs. I do NOT pay by the hour. For the Christmas store thank you wanted to earn money. I got a spray bottle of cleaner that he isn't allergic to and some rags and a few scrubby pads. He got a quarter for each drawer or cabinet front he scrubbed. They had to FEEL clean and have no little hard things stuck on.

Jess often gets paid for going over and above what we ask of her. But we don't do this UNLESS she has actually done what we ask of her. She has a tendency to go all out and do lots of cleaning EXCEPT whatever is on her list. She will refuse to do any of it. So she only gets $$$ when the chores are after the list is done.

I don't have a set rate, they don't seem to ask for one.

Susie

 

[Pam R]

We paid DS to do jobs we were no longer able to do. We started off paying by the hour, but he messed around so much it bcame by the job. We also pay $5/hr. or what would be $5/hr. for a normally completed job. :hammer:

The jobs he got paid for:

working with fire wood: splitting, hauling, stacking, bringing into house

mowing and weedwacking

helping me in the garden

fencing on the farm

and sometimes some housework:

completely cleaning the bathroom

vacuuming the entire house


As someone else said, these had to be done to Mommy standard or no pay. Because of this, it would have been far easier to do them ourselves. :hammer:

Sometimes I had to check him work up to 7 times and send him back to do it. I think he figured I'd give up, but I never did. Eventually I put a cap on the checking and just said it better be done well after the second check or no pay and you finish it for nothing. :hammer:

Now at nearly 17, some jobs he does well and some he still does poorly. He never learned that he'd save energy by just doing it well the first time. The EDD I think.

The ones he does well tend to be the ones he does most frequently, so he learned the habit, not the reason why. This is how he tends to learn most things, never truly knowing "why" something is done this way.

Anyways, that's how things work around here.

Pam R.

 

[1 Day At a Time]

difficult child gets paid $20.00 for mowing our lot, which is about an acre. It would cost much more to get a service to mow it.

He also gets paid by the hour for providing IT support for the staff at husband's office. That's $10.00 per hour. He does an excellent job, and again is much cheaper than purchasing this work out on the open market.

His other chores are not paid, and they come with the territory of living in our family :smile:

 

[Star*]

Detail my car - $10.00
Sweep the drive -$2.00

Listen to me at ANY freakin given time of the day or night ever, ever, ever?
PRICELESS - ( I would have drained my bank account, sold my stocks, pulled the gold out of me teeth and stood on my ears, top of my roof, naked with whip cream on my feet)

:whew: (thank GOD he NEVER EVER listened to me)

 

[Tezzie]

Both difficult child & easy child have weekly jobs; both do dishes 3 days a week, difficult child walks the dogs twice a day, makes his bed & keeps his room neat. easy child feeds horses daily,makes his bed & keeps his room neat. This earns them $10 a week. In summer they both have lawn mowing responsiblities. Extras include shoveling snow, washing the dogs, vacuuming, & any other chores that need doing. Pay for these is per job, done to Mom approval & ranges from $1-$10 depending on the time involved. Both must use this money for movies, I-Tunes cards, things that they want. difficult child is currently saving for a touch I-Pod & is actually very motivated to do jobs & not spend money impulsively (like normally).

Tezzie