Recently I have really wanted Megan to start doing some chores that I feel are appropriate for her age - making her bed, getting dressed and putting her clothes in the hamper, clearing her spot from the table, and cleaning up her toys, etc. I found a cute chart for her to put stickers on and we told her that she would get a certain amount of money per sticker for doing her chores and would get paid at the end of the week. At first it was going pretty well. She was excited to earn stickers and was doing what was on the chart and leaned the consequences for not doing all of them everyday. Later in the week, when I asked her to do something that was on the chart, she'd tell me, "I don't want to do that. It's ok that I don't get a sticker for it." Well, these are very basic chores that I really feel like she should be doing, so that backfired a little. Papa and Grandma were here this week and so I forgot to print off a new chart for start this week. Then today I read an article my sister-in-law put on Facebook about how we are living in the age of entitlement and how selfish kids are today. The article mentioned a study about kids and money for chores. It found that when kids are paid for every chore they do, they expect a monetary reward for everything they do and won't work without some sort of reward or payment. The article also talked about how vital it is for children to learn to work and its many benefits. I really agree with what the article said and made me think about this little chore chart and system I was trying to implement.
This is where I am looking for your help! What do you do to foster work in your home? What do you do for chores and allowances? I try hard to teach my children to be loving and kind to one another and want them to have a good work ethic as well. I want them to know that life isn't easy and that you have to work for what you want, sometimes without an immediate pay-out. Please let me know what your thoughts are on this. You can email me if you don't want to leave a comment or your comments are too long: jenjorgensen220@gmail.com. I am new to all this and would love to your thoughts and ideas!
