There is often a difference of opinion on whether or not children should earn an allowance for helping out around the house. While some believe that it should just be part of being a family and part of a home, others believe that children should earn an allowance.
The benefit of paying your child an allowance is that they can start to learn the value of money and how to save and budjet for things that they may want. It can teach them responsibility and the value of a work ethic. If they don’t do the chores required to earn their allowance, then they don’t get paid.
The line can be drawn between chores that are expected as part of a household and extra chores they can do to earn money. The chores that are expected should be age appropriate. If they are young, picking up their toys, and maybe helping to set the table for dinner. As they get older, the household chores that they are responsible for should grow as well.
If your child wants to get paid an allowance they can also have some bigger chores that are not a part of the daily running of the house. Things like raking the yard or shoveling in the winter. Chores that will help you out, but are not necessarily a daily occurrence.
You should also sit down with your child and talk about how much they will get paid for doing the extra chores and what is expected of them in order to get paid. You could also talk about how to be responsible with money and maybe opening a bank account so they can put some of it away.