Teaching our children about handling money and making good financial decisions is extremely important to my husband and me.
We live in a world in which instant gratification and the “Me first!” attitude seems to be at the forefront of our children’s minds. If we are being honest, most people’s minds – even adults.
Andy and I want our kids to be hard workers, with a good work ethic and know how to properly handle money.
I have always waffled back and forth on allowance or earnings for kids. My kids are part of the family and they do have family duties. Those are jobs that help maintain and keep the day to day running. I refuse to pay them for washing dishes or helping fold and put away laundry. Those are all jobs they have for just being part of the family.
However, there are a lot of jobs that their “clean freak” mama would like to be done. These jobs do not make the day to day running of the house better or worse. These jobs just help keep mama happy.
First and foremost, there are things that I want my kids to learn to do. Habits I would like them to instill. Should I pay them to do those things? Probably not. However, I refuse to pay them a weekly commission if these personal habits are not done on a daily or weekly basis.
Before paying them commission, these are the items that need to be given attention:
- They have to be in the Word daily. Once again, I don’t know if this is wise, however, money speaks. I know they are not going to be paid as adults to read their Bible daily but I want them to make it a habit. Also, the Bible has a lot to say about stewardship and stewardship is one of the main reasons behind the idea of giving them commission.
- They have to maintain their bedrooms, laundry, and possessions. I am not going to hand over money to a child who has LEGOs strewn about all over the floor because he did an extra job. He has to be diligent about picking up his belongings. Taking care of what your money has purchased or that you own is another aspect of stewardship I want them to learn.
- They are required to be involved in one act of service a week. One of the qualifiers we put on paying commission is they have to serve without getting paid at least once a week. One of those times being when I have moms over once a month. With adults in the room, our kids are more than able to watch the kids. A lot of my friends around here, since its military, have husband’s deployed and they need that time of rest and refreshment. Another example of service can be helping out at church. It cannot be a paid act. I want my kids to be servants not takers.
- They have to maintain a good work ethic and attitude. Part of this training is to train our children in how they should approach life and a job. God calls us to approach every task as if doing it for Him. “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.” – Colossians 3:23 Like I stated before, I am not paying my kids to have a good attitude and do what they are supposed to be doing. I am trying to instill good habits.
After all those prerequisites are done, they have a job which is above and beyond their daily duties.
We have a lot of white trim, doorways, and doors in our home. I go crazy if there are black fingerprints all over them. One of the jobs is to wipe down all the white trim once a week.
I have yet to find a system that addresses all my pros and cons of allowance systems. Teaching my kids and guiding them in the ways of work ethic, attitude, and finance is very important.
What about you? Do you have a compensation or allowance system in your family? What’s that look like for you?
This post was part of the Works For Me Wednesday series! Feel free to comment and link any WFMW posts you may have to share!
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