Hey moms, have you heard about the new app that promises to make your kids "beg" to do chores? That's right, it's called -- um, look, you're really gonna need to stop laughing if you want me to tell you more. Can you stop that, please?
Okay, where was I? Oh yeah, so this app is called "Choremonster," and it's basically the smartphone generation's take on Ye Olde Sticker Chart (you know, those things you put stickers on every time your kid washes the dishes or whatever and then when the chart's all filled up and/or you run out of stickers they get a prize?).
Now, some parents have a problem with this idea because they think rewarding kids for doing stuff around the house they should be doing anyway sends the wrong message. That they'll grow up spoiled and entitled and lazy. That they won't lift a finger unless some sort of compensation is involved.
And you know what? Why should they?
Look, I'm not gonna buy this particular app because I know damn well NOTHING would ever make my kids "beg" to clean their rooms, and I don't do sticker charts because, quite frankly, they sound like a pain in the ass. But if my son picks up his Star Wars guys off the floor and puts them away every day this week like he promised, I'll give him a few bucks. Why not?
The fact is, rewarding kids to do chores doesn't send the wrong message, it sends the EXACTLY RIGHT message: Money makes the world go 'round, so you might as well master this whole payment received for services rendered concept now.
You think I'm being cynical? Practical is more like it. Hell, I wish I'd been raised to look at everything as a business opportunity. Paying kids to do chores is like killing two "prepare them for the future" birds with one stone: They learn how to do laundry/make beds/polish furniture AND how to handle their finances!
Plus, kids are just plain better about doing their chores when they know they're getting paid. I mean, obviously. So until Mary Poppins shows up at my house and those Star Wars guys start magically marching their action figure asses into closets, I'll pay my kids.
Do you reward your kids for doing chores?
Image via Mary-Frances Main/Flickr
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Comments 85
Your kinda on the right track but I don't remember ever getting paid to clean my house or my grandmother getting paid you only get paid to do stuff outside the house.I mean you only get paid at your job cleaning is a must for everyone on the side of their job big difference .I'm sorry but if it was at all like the old days where the men hunted and fished and woman did their part cooking ,sewing and cleaning America wouldn't be so over weight and iduldged by modern manurfacturing doing all the work for them and our kids wouldnt be so spoiled and lazy .Thats how it should be .I will never pay my kid to clean their room or to pick up after themselves cause thats teaching them to only clean if their paid cleaning is a responsibility and like Heather Duso Johnson said about a sense of pride or accomplishment.
Hell no. When someone starts paying me for doing the laundry, cleaning the house, doing the dishes, etc. I'll consider it. Until then, they can pick up their own toys and their own clothes. If not, I'll do it with a snow shovel.
my kids have family jobs that are like picking up an assigned room, feeding the animal clearing the table. those are done for free because we are a family and work as a team to keep our home comfortable.
they do have the option to do other work for money. my 7 year old get paid $2/any extra job inside and $5/any outdoor job. my 3 year old get $1/ extra job.
it works for us.
It's much easier to throw money at your kid than to parent them, is that what you're saying?
When my daughter was younger, she was rewarded with positive reinforcement, personal pride and a quarter per job, just as a token, so as not to overshadow the lesson. It served several things: learning skills for independence, contributing to home/family, a sense of accomplishment and some pocket money to learn money management. Otherwise, maybe an unexpected treat that made her feel generally rewarded just for being her or having a great week at school; her chore contributions being part of that.
But an outright payday = lazy parenting style, and initiating poor values, imo.
I see more and more we as a society are churning out helpless little sociopaths.
And for my daughter? That means having to deal with those kids as adults.
I have things my daughter has to do because its her mess and her responsibility. I'm not her maid, and she needs to learn for her own sake for when she moves out. Mommy isn't going to come over and do the work. Then I have things she can choose to do, and she will get an allowance for that. If she doesn't do the optional chores, she doesn't get paid. So it really depends on what she has on her shopping list.