OK, this does have to do with firewood some, but there's a larger context. I have five kids and the two youngest are still living at home, they're 13 and 11. They will be home all summer, barring a couple of scout camps and various activities, but they will have a lot of time on their hands. I want to give them some pretty heavy chores to do, like stacking wood, moving brush, pulling weeds, basic stuff you can do with hand tools and/or physical effort. No machinery. I've always told all my kids that chores are the price you pay for a roof over your head, food to eat, hot water etc. I've never given any of them an "allowance", if they need something they get it, but if they want something they have to earn it, or they get it as a birthday or Christmas present. However, this would be a perfect opportunity to get some stuff done around the house that isn't part of their "normal" chores. Both of them want to earn money, the 13-year-old has said he wished he could get a job. I was considering paying them to do some of the more difficult things that I either don't have time for, or are repetitive/boring tasks that could easily be done by a couple of kids. Any thoughts on this? Any of the rest of you pay your kids to work around the house? And if so, what's the value in dollars to you? Do you ever hire neighborhood kids or friends of your kids to work as well? If so, what do you pay them?
Once you pay them for any work, it will be expected... We heated with wood for years when i lived at home. Saturday morning was firewood day. Dad took us for breakfast and we cut a dump truck load of wood till lunch time. No pay, it was a chore.
This reminds me of the calls we made year's ago trying to find out the going rate for the tooth fairy. Maybe treat them as a contractor ? Have them estimate/quote you a price and completion date, negotiate till your both happy, put it in writing and pay upon completion. If they want something besides money buy it and let them see it sitting there..... waiting for them to complete the task.
If you do pay them for extra work, be sure they understand they still have to do their regular chores they have been doing right along. I think they are old enough to understand the value of work outside of family responsibilities.
I was working for pay by age 10. So I'm slanted that way. I agree that chores are chores. But extra work should be paid for . As a way of teaching them the value of good , thinking , diligent, work. Work Smart and hard. Make money.
Working with your hands and learning what a paycheck means is always a good thing! Good point, Cold Trigger Finger! If you can teach the kids a trade, like electric or plumbing, they will always have a skill they can make money with. I was knocking down $110 a week (tax free cash) cutting grass for all the neighbors 35 years ago. About $20 an hour at age 14.
Chores (earn ya keep) and paid work are different things. I pay my very young kids when they choose to do something extra.
x2 And maybe you could make it exciting like "hiring" the 13 year old for a real paying job? Signed sheet, another with duties, maybe something to keep track of tasks accomplished for his "paycheck" ?
When we were old enough to know what money was, we got an allowance. It didn't matter if it was helping w/the dishes and taking out the trash....or digging a cistern hole...or pruning a giant hedge and cleaning it up. All paid the same. Once I was skilled enough to set nails in trim, I got paid half what the regular carpenters were getting. When I could cut and hang trim got more....when I could hang and trim doors.... got full pay. Taught me a lot about work and money. Paying dues..... ...and my dad would never pay me without me asking for my money. Used to really make me mad that I had to ask. Finally one time I got up the nerve and asked why did I always have to ask......he told me that someday, out there in the real world, you're going to have to ask for your money. He was right.
Young folks have to learn a lot and it is best learned from parents. Money is just one of the things they must learn; how to earn it; how to keep some of it for themselves and the future, and how to best spend it when it has to be spent. That stated, I do not think it is wrong to pay a child if he/she is doing more than what is normally expected. But I do think it is wrong to pay too much and definitely wrong if they don't earn the money that you'd still give it. Sorry, if you don't do good work, you don't get good pay and that is one of the most valuable lessons you can teach.
We do the same thing... no allowance, chores are expected. I started paying them when they were capable of doing larger work when then reached their early to mid teens. Pressure washing, painting the shed, staining the deck, shampooing the carpets. I always gave them a price I would pay for the job and estimated $10.00/hour in my head to give them what they could earn. My brother teases me saying he’s going to turn me in to child services... Now the girls are 19 and 16 and they can find higher paying jobs that don’t require as much sweat equity as I do... Losing my workers little by little...
Dave Ramsey has a lot to say about paying kids and he is a very strong proponent of it. We do not pay an allowance, but pay for chores above and beyond teh regular ones, and it has really been a good thing here. A few weeks ago my oldest daughter wanted some spending money so I gave her the task of cleaning out the Bunny Hutch for $5. After she was done she wanted the $5 so I gave her $5 in 1 dollar bills. then I said, "Now go pay your other sisters $1 dollar apiece." She said, "But why? They did not help me clean out the bunny cage?" I said, "No, and that is why we vote conservative, because the liberals are the ones that want you to work and give all your money away to those that don't do a thing for it." Bunny cage clean-up=$5 Life Lesson=PRICELESS!
All I can say is this is way different than I was raised / taught. My Dad did things a certain way, it was "his" house his yard, car whatever. Dad maintained it, fixed it etc. never "made" the kids do it. His thought was he wanted it, or wanted to do certain things, he did it. If the grass needed cut, he cut it, it was his choice to have a lawn, did not have the kids do it to earn their keep. He provided everything we needed growing up and this has caused me to be sort of the same way, it is my job to provide for my family. Dad was born in 1926, maybe the generation? He did work on a dairy farm growing up. Definitely different situation.
Just make sure that you "1099" the kids whenever you pay them! They will also learn about tax forms, etc......
Put me in the “pay them” camp. And try to keep your personal politics out of it. Growing up my sister and I had our “regular” chores - do the dishes, clean your room, take out the garbage, etc. These were just expected of us, no pay, because you helped make the mess. The pay usually started when the job was something my dad wouldn’t ask my sister to do: hay, firewood, mow the lawn. And it was always piece meal - you only got paid for the work that got done. If you want to make more, work harder. I think I turned out alright. Now I’ve got a house, 14 acres, some toys, and enough savings to pay off the mortgage if I had to. I really never stopped working since those days. I’m a bit of a workaholic in fact - if I don’t have at least 3 projects going to keep me busy I start to get bored and depressed.
It is that generation. My dad was born in 1918. He busted his butt for us and only expected very little in return. When it came to working, we started early. I started at 13 and worked all the way through to 56. If I didn’t get sick I think I would have worked till I dropped, much like he did.
