Should kids be paid to do chores?

Should you pay your child to do something that they should already be doing?

 No. Let me tell you why.

I understand paying a child for doing something extra, or rewarding them for working hard on something, but I don’t think chores should be a part of that list. Learning to be responsible and cleanly should not have a monetary benefit.

Children should do their chores for free, just as we do as it is a part of being a family and being responsible for helping the household function. ‘Unpaid’ chores should include making their own bed, sweeping, cleaning their toys/room, taking out the trash, and helping with cooking and washing dishes. These are all things that you typically would not pay for but are necessary for the house. Paying your kids to do these tasks will turn in to them refusing the task if you ask them to do it unpaid. This leaves you in a bind because now you either have to pay them every time they clean something or they get in trouble for not doing it because there isn’t benefit in it except for money. Another issue that may arise is that once they ‘earn’ enough to buy something they want, they can stop doing their chores for a while because they don’t need money at the moment.

On the other hand, things that you would be more likely to pay for like babysitting, getting your car washed or mowing the lawn would constitute as things that you can teach your kids about earning money for. Even a monthly allowance is a more feasible way to teach your kids how to be responsible, as long as it isn’t contingent upon their completion of chores.

A good life lesson here will be giving them money at the end of the month and letting them spend it all on whatever they want. When they realize that it’s all gone and they have to wait another month, they will really reconsider how fast they spend their money. With this method you can teach them budgeting and saving without spoiling them by paying them for things they will have to do, unpaid, for the rest of their lives.