The Monkey Man has been bugging us for about a month to receive an allowance. He wants some spending money, which I get, cause technically, I want some too! Anyway, Big Daddy and I have been discussing the possibilities. I have a hard time with allowances because I think a child should be willing to help clean up the house and whatnot just because he or she is a part of this family. After all, I've been cleaning this house for years and no one has ever given me an allowance! We all live here, we all make messes and therefore we should ALL do our part. But I do respect that he's 7 now and wants to make a little money to buy a Bionicle on occasion. It could be a good lesson in the value of a dollar and what it means to work hard for it.
After much discussion, we decided that normal household chores would not be included in the allowance. He needed to do a job that I normally did, so it would be helpful to ME! Well, he stinks at laundry and folding (it would take him 20 years to fold one load), putting dishes away worries me because he would have to climb on a chair to put breakable things in the upper cabinets, an accident just WAITING to happen. He's not old enough or big enough to mow the lawn, so we finally settled on... POOP SCOOPIN'! Yep, poop scoopin'! It is a job that I abhor (and not because poop is gross, but because it KILLS my back to stoop like that), and we have a tendency to let it go for long periods and yadda, yadda. Poop scooping is always the last thing on my list of to-do's, so it seemed an obvious answer to our problem. At first The Monkey Man wasn't too thrilled about it, but when I explained that we would get him an appropriate shovel and rake AND pay him $5 a week, he seemed much more amicable! So, he has agreed that he will scoop twice a week for a $5 allowance. He started his job yesterday and did great! He busied himself, never complaining and searched the yard high and low for canine landmines! Afterwards he even helped me put branches and twigs into the recycling bags. He told me, "Mom, I'm here to help! If you ever need anything... I'M YOUR MAN!" And he truly is, I'm very proud of him and the job that he did! If he keeps this up, he'll have a new Bionicle in 3 weeks! SWEET!
Just don't tell Avery. She pooper scoops as part of her normal chores AND only gets $2 a week allowance! I think she might need a raise....
ReplyDeleteMine only get $2 a week too. We didn't tie them to chores. We said they had to sleep in their own room and use their own bathroom. It was the pressing need at the time. I was tired of sharing both of mine of the above.
ReplyDeleteWell, we picked the one thing that would really be helpful to our entire family (including the dog) and we looked up what the fair market value is for such a service, which ended up being between $8-12 per week if we hired someone to scoop twice a week. So we figured $5 for 2 scoopings a week was fair. He still has to clean his room, set the table, feed the dog, help with 8:00pm pick-up every night, help bring in groceries and anything else I deem necessary. But those chores aren't tied to the allowance. I am hoping this will work out well. We shall see.
ReplyDeleteThats a great idea and I'm sure he will continue to do his work and accept his money. What you have to worry about is he and the little organizing and becoming a union. Of course if that happens send them to me and I'll teach everything they need to know on how to shut down a business in one strike. :-)
ReplyDeleteHe has done his job well. Today is Wed. and he went out back to scoop without anyone telling him. I will give him his first "paycheck" on Sat. He is VERY excited!
ReplyDelete