Kids and Money: My kids are "earning" their $36 to visit a local theme park this summer. Each chore and school subject that they complete daily is worth $0.20. How do you feel about bribing your kids to do chores or studies that should be a normal part of their day?

First of all, I want to say "Good Job" to you for providing a way for your kids to earn their own money.  As we've mentioned before, kids who have their own money to spend learn many valuable lessons about financial responsibility that just aren't available to kids whose parents buy everything for them - and I don't mean just the parents who buy EVERYTHING for them - having to spend your Own Money on things really makes a stronger impression than just picking out the item you want/need at the store.

But the real question was this: what do we think about paying kids to do things that they "should" do anyway?  And, in truth, neither one of us does this.  We have each devised a plan to allow our children to acquire some money of their own, and we each do it differently.  Marcia's kids get a (small) allowance - the thinking is that as part of the family, they share in the wealth of the family. Any other money her children want must be earned outside their home.  Babysitting, lawn mowing, whatever.

At my house, we have a somewhat unique system.  We pay our kids to read.  Yes, I know it probably sounds weird.  It started when my oldest was six and very much wanted a toy that was simply way over the budget for either Christmas or her birthday, and she really didn't have any way to earn money.  My husband and I sat down and discussed all of the things that we wanted to encourage our kids to do, that we could encourage them to do by way of paying them, and decided that reading was near the top of that list.

To earn money for reading, there are a few conditions that must be met.  The book must be appropriate for their reading level, and be one that either my husband or I approves beforehand.  When one of our kids finishes an approved book, they get out their trusty "Summary Notebook" and write a summary of the book, as many sentences long as they are years old (so a 10 year old must write at least 10 sentences, but the 6 year old only needs to write six).  Once the summary has been read and approved by a parent, the child is paid one cent per page of the book, usually rounded to the nearest quarter because I don't want to chase down that many pennies for a 287 page book.

To get to the heart of your question: neither of us pays our kids to do things we feel that they should be doing as part of our family, or as part of their schooling, or whatever.  But we both do pay them. The really important part, we feel, is making sure that they have their own money.  This is a quick solution to the "gimmees" because they get to decide if the treat they want is really worth their money, not yours.

So let's recap.
Handing out cash at random to your kids = bad.
Giving your kids money for pre-determined reasons (allowance, chores, grades, whatever) = good.
Buying "stuff" for your kids just because they ask = bad.
Letting your kids buy whatever they want with their own money = good.
 

So if you have found a way to get some cash into your kids' hands, and are encouraging them to spend it wisely, then keep up the good work!


Kate