Teaching Your Preschooler the Value of Money with a Chore Chart

There is a parenting debate about whether you should teach your children that they should do chores simply because they are a member of the household or if they should get compensation or paid for doing chores. If you go one way, your child might think that they are entitled to receiving a certain amount of spending money regardless of their contributions to the house. If you go the other way, your child thinks that they should be paid for everything they do and don’t learn that they have obligations and duties as a member of a household.

After considering both sides of this issue, I think that allowances should be contingent on work performed for these reasons:

• Children should learn that you need to earn money. That it comes with hard work and dedication. That it takes effort to work, earn, and save enough money to purchase what you want. Yes, they should do things as a member of the family, but it is also useful to show them that they can earn some rewards for their efforts.
• Children learn how to manage the money they earn.

To test my theory (although I won’t be able to judge for sure if this works until my children are adults with savings accounts), I’ve decided to implement a chore chart for my four-year-old son, Jonas, to use. My middle child is quite three years old; so, this really hasn’t made any sense to him, but Jonas is VERY excited by this idea.

We printed out a chore chart from Simplemom.net, cut out the chores, and pasted them on. Then, Jonas happily performed a variety of the chores in exchange for a check mark in the box (which he was allowed to make as well). Each check mark could be exchanged for a nickel or 5 minutes of playing a video game or computer game (redeemable only only on certain days and in specific quantities – e.g. 30 minutes).

The chore chart is working lovely so far. Jonas is excited to do his chores – even asks to do them! He happily marks his sheet and waits anxiously for the weekend to redeem them. His first week he traded half for time to play his favorite video game and half for coins he counted into his piggy bank. This week he traded his points in for money to purchase a small toy.

Try it with your child and let me know how it works for you! If you want a chart you can just print out and skip the cutting and pasting, try FlipFlop and Applesauce’s chore chart.

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Life happens and it is often difficult to find time to go to the supermarket regularly to stock up on fresh fruits and vegetables. I tend to buy a lot when I’m at the store, but it can be a couple of weeks before I get the chance to go back and the fresh produce I’ve bought often goes bad before my family can eat it all. If you live in the Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, or Los Angeles area, you can enjoy fresh organic produce delivered right to your door! Formerly known in the Seattle area as Pioneer Organics, Spud.com now offers home delivery of local, organic fresh produce. If you are eco-conscious at all, this is a double bonus of getting organic produce from local farmers – a great way to support these local businesses.

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I have my milk delivered straight to my door by Smith Brothers Farm every week, and it is a total lifesaver. With three kids under four-years-old, I was constantly running to the store at the last minute to purchase milk. These “quick” runs to the store took a toll on our schedule, budget, and sanity. The weekly milk delivery alone saves me time and money, and I know the milk is local and the cattle aren’t fed growth hormones. Getting my produce delivered bi-weekly might just tip the scales in my favor and make sure that I always have something fresh and green to serve on the table! Even if it’s next to Mac and Cheese!