Pay Up! (Chore Chart Part 2)

Okay, so hopefully (if you decide to try it) your kids are excited about the chore chart that they helped to make. As I mentioned before, I've tried other chore ideas before, but my motivation system never worked long term. For example, I can remember once I decided to just give the girls a dime whenever they did anything helpful. But they were so impressed by these tiny coins, that after one or two chores they were totally satisfied and stopped helping.

That is why I decided to try this system (which I read online somewhere):

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  First off, each week the girls get $1 (no matter how many chores they have done) just for being a part of the family.


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  To earn anything more than that they have to do at least 10 chores. (In our family if you have done 10 chores in a week you get a total of $3 for your allowance).


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  For every 5 chores you do above the first 10 you get another dollar.

Some thoughts about this system:

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  Setting a minimum number of chores that they have to complete to earn anything extra keeps them motivated all week long to mark chores off their chart. If I paid them for each chore that they did, they would do a few, feel satisfied that they were earning something, and then stop. They can usually easily get 7 or 8 done without thinking much about it. Then, as they get towards the end of the week, they check their chart and realize they only need a couple of more chores to add $2 to their allowance, so they start looking for things they can do.


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  Occassionly they go over 10 without even trying, and then realize, hey I only need one or two more to make a total of $4 for the week, so once again they are motivated, and looking for some way to be helpful. (You get the idea, with this system there is motivation for being helpful every day!)


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  Because the girls choose which chores they do and when there is flexibilty to the system that helps us all. Some days are just too busy for chores and that is okay, they can make up it for it on another day. Also, when we are in hurry to get out the door sometimes it is easier for me to just do something myself, and this system allows that without penalizing anybody.


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  Choose the dollar (or coin amount) that works for you. Our amount might sound high, but we only have 2 kids, and I am a mom who rarely says yes to "Can I have..." pleas in the store, so I feel comfortable giving them some money of their own. I would rather they earn the money and then say, "Well if you would like to have that you can choose to spend your own money," then have to decide whether to give in this time or not. I like the lessons they are learning about money when they choose how to spend it. Also, now that they have their own money, I let them pay for things that I would have spent my own money on before, like going to the movies, and they love the feeling of being able to pay for these things on their own.

Okay, enough tips, I promised a funny story. So, the first week we hung up our charts, Anna immediately got busy doing chores and racking up marks on her chart. Alaina (the laid back one) however, did one or two, then quietly lost enthusiasm and stopped participating. I said nothing about this, knowing that the natural consequence that came on pay day would speak much louder and more powerfully than any reminders I gave her during the week. So, as pay day approached, Anna (who insists on worrying about everything) started to fret that she wasn't going to get 10 chores done. She was worrying aloud, getting all worked up over the idea that she might not make it to 10 and the world would come crashing down on her shoulders when Alaina piped up quite encouragingly, "Stick with me Anna, I'm not doing it!" If you had heard the way she said it you would understand why I almost expected her to go on and say, "They can't manipulate me with their money!"

Well, we got a good (but discreet.... as we are trying to teach them something here) laugh about that one. But, as I predicted, when pay day came, Alaina's plan blew up in her face. Larry made a big deal about handing out their allowance. First, he gave Alaina hers (one dollar, in quarters) and told her that was her allowance for being a part of the family. She seemed pretty pleased with herself until he handed Anna a much bigger pile of quarters and told her to stack it in piles of four. As Alaina watched Anna stack her quarters into several piles, her bottom lip slowly started to move forward into a pout. She was smart enough to turn her head to the side though, and be discreet about it, as she knew she had no one to blame but herself. Needless to say, the next week she participated with much more enthusiasm and she earned more than just her $1 for being a part of the family. I love natural consequences!