Isn’t this kid So cute?!?! He’s mine!! My little Entrepreneur Cowboy has been begging to sell something outside. He has even wanted to sell his toys to earn money to buy new ones. I am a bit partial to their toys because first off we got rid of the ones we didn’t like a few months ago when we had a yard sale, and second we don’t buy a lot and I don’t want him to sell them because they play with what they have, so I told him no. At the County Fair my husband won a bunch of grape and orange soda {story I need to tell you}. So to get it out of the house because Cowboy would drink it all day long, I told him after school he could sell it. He was so excited and asked me all day when 2:30 was so he could sell it to the kids getting off the bus. He wanted to sell them for a dollar, but I talked him down to .50 cents. Isn’t he so cute sitting there waiting. He was pretty frustrated when a car would drive by. He would run in the house where I was watching him out the window and tell me no one was stopping, but finally the kids across the street bought 3 and a sweet neighbor girl came and bought one! So he earned $2.00. He was thrilled. And then it started raining and he came inside!!
This is when he hadn’t had any customers. I had to leave for a relief society activity, so I didn’t get an after shot of how happy he was!! But I know he was happier than that!
Watching my son do this, and even struggle through this made me so proud of him. He is such a hard little worker and when he has his mind set to do something he will. I think it is so important to teach our kids to work hard, save money and set financial goals, even at a young age!
I have been pretty impressed by my children lately. We have been doing a lot of training from that book I read called The Parenting Breakthrough: Real-Life Plan to Teach Kids to Work, Save Money, and Be Truly Independent. They are doing so well and are getting really good at their expected chores each day. We have also started an extra chore chart where they can pick two chores to earn a little extra money each day. I am not sure if we will pay them for housework normally, but since they are so young and there isn’t a lot they can do to earn money, then it really is our only option. It has been good to teach them to work hard and help out and also use the Dave Ramsey system. They get excited for pay day when we help them divide their money into their envelopes!!
I would love to know your opinion on paying your children for chores, if you are going to do it or not, and if not how do you plan on helping them earn money? It is something I go back and forth on a lot. I would love to hear others opinions!! Please leave a comment and tell me what you think. I would love to hear from you!
Thanks for stopping by my blog! I love your picture, tell him that if I were there, I’d buy some soda, he looks so sad LOL!
I do think that kids need to understand that they are apart of a family and being in a family means you have to help the home run smoothly- hence chores. However, at this point I am in the same boat as you. This summer we did do a pretty intense-strict chore chart which the girls got paid for. We have let up a bit since school has started but I will implement something again soon. I think if they start doing the basics regularly then they could be rewarded for the extras like vacuum, dishes, pulling weeds, etc. At least to teach them the concept of money. A goal we worked on this summer was to get the kids working and helping each other- their pay was reflected on if all three of them did the individual chores. Therefore, encouraging them to work together and attempt to get along which was a hard thing for us over the summer. Maybe switching up the goals chore wise will help the kids see a difference between doing expected house work and earning money. Phew- long winded and I just live across the street. 🙂
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You hit the nail on the head! We are in the same situation. We have gone back and forth on ideas. We also follow Dave Ramsey’s envelope and budget system and we have listened to a little on what he has to say on children. I would love to order the kids set he has available on his site, but I would like to know about it first from someone who has it. Do you have it? Our daughter is 6 (and our son is 21 months). We want to teach her about money and working for your money etc. But we also believe that cleaning your room etc is a “responsibility” as we call it and not something you get paid for. I finally came up with a chart for her that lists all her responsibilities and then also has a spot for “30 minute chore time” each day. This is because I just couldn’t think of a “schedule” of chores for her at her young age. I usually just see what needs to be done, and then set the timer for 30 minutes and give her chores until the timer runs out. She gets paid $5 a week…with $1 going into the “Give” envelope, $2 into the “Save” envelope and $2 into the “Spend” envelope. I would love to hear others ideas on what kind of payment is right for what age, and what kind of chores you expect. My daughter does things like dust, pull weeds, help her brother pick up his toys, etc. Sorry for the novel. Hope this helps! I cant wait to see what others have to say.
My 4 and 3 year are expected to do family chores like feeding the animals, cleaning up after themselves after playing in a room, putting their laundry in their room, dusting, and their dishes in the sink. All these chores help the family function better and therefore earn them fuzzy balls I keep in a jar. When the jar is full they get to decide together what to do for fun like out for a dessert, the movies, the dollar store, or save all of it for the really big jar that goes toward family vacations like Sea World. I let them put half in both if they want. Individual things like daily grooming, bathroom breaks, bathing, beds made, rooms in order, as well as good behavior all earn them fuzzy balls for their individual jars. When those are full they get to choose from the treasure box we made together full of dollar store toys and suckers or trade their jar in for money to go in their piggy banks (usually $2 per jar). Sorry if confusing but at such a young age they like the pretty color balls more than money so we will use this for a couple of years and then move on with something else. As they get older I will do the same with encouraging lemonade stands (or soda), garage sales, making items to sell, babysitting, yard work, etc..
If I had a dime for every time my kids set up a table to sell stuff, I’d be rich! Roks for sale! pikters for sale! I get a kick out of it every time.
Growing up we had our normal chores that we had to do, like our bedroom had to be cleaned, I was in charge of always emptying the dishwasher, doing the dishes and vacuuming. Then everything else was an extra chore, and we would either get paid or we got to do something that we wanted to do, like go to the movies, have friends over. With our kids since they are 6, 4, and 2 we have chores for each of them based on what they can do, and they have to do those, and then anything extra they can earn money, although my kids don’t love money that much right now, so they love to earn computer time to play games. It works right now for us… I know this is always going to be hard, but hopefully if we start now and expect them to do their part it will be easier as they get older
Growing up we had our normal chores that we had to do, like our bedroom had to be cleaned, I was in charge of always emptying the dishwasher, doing the dishes and vacuuming. Then everything else was an extra chore, and we would either get paid or we got to do something that we wanted to do, like go to the movies, have friends over. With our kids since they are 6, 4, and 2 we have chores for each of them based on what they can do, and they have to do those, and then anything extra they can earn money, although my kids don’t love money that much right now, so they love to earn computer time to play games. It works right now for us… I know this is always going to be hard, but hopefully if we start now and expect them to do their part it will be easier as they get older
You’ll have to text me next time your kid is out selling! I love stopping at their stands and helping them out 🙂
I LOVE that book! Totally am going to use it when I have kids that old.