How Making Kids Do Chores Makes Them Rich, Possibly


via Growing Rich Kids

Smart Is the New Rich: If You Can’t Afford It, Put It Downby Christine Romans, who is the host of CNN’s “Your $$$$$.”
She has a chapter devoted to Family Money and in it, she says:
Here’s something simple [to teach your kids] that will pay dividends when your little darling gets old enough to have a credit card or a school loan:  Take out the trash. Children who have chores growing up are more likely to be better with money down road. The kind of kid who takes the trash out twice a week, or changes the water in the fish tank, or has the special job of folding the towels and making sure they are delivered to the bathroom – that kid grows up to be more diligent about money.
The theory is: Early and consistent expectations about the contributions a child must make in the home translate into responsibility with money later on.
Romans cites the Charles Schwab 2010 Families & Money Survey as the basis for this advice. The survey reports that children who regularly did more chores growing up are reported by their parents as more financially responsible as young adults.

via Parenthood
How to Involve Young Children in Household Tasks
  • Tasks should not be too overwhelming. Be realistic and you're your child's age in mind. Model how to do the task, and work with the child.

  • Present tasks in a way that fits your child's learning style.
  • Involve your child in determining the tasks he or she will complete. Hold weekly meetings that last no longer than five minutes to discuss the chores for the
    week. Reinforce the schedule with a weekly chore chart.
  • Rotate tasks every week.
  • Children should not be made to do the tasks for an allowance.
  • Give lots of encouragement.
Rewards for Doing Chores

Researcher Marty Rossmann does not believe in giving allowances for doing household chores. "For me, allowances are important, but they should be separate from household tasks," she says. "Allowances help children manage money at a young age and learn the values connected with money, but it should not be attached to household chores. Learning about money and the value connected with money is far too important a lesson to attach it to household tasks. And household tasks are far too important to be put in a situation where you take away money as a punishment."
The best rewards are love and affection, she says. "Give lots of encouragement for the little jobs your children do - bringing the dishes to the sink, picking up their toys."

"People's impression of overindulgence is being given too
As for other rewards, Rossmann says putting little stars on a chart for tasks completed is fine. "They are tangible reminders that we all helped out," she says.
"But Dad gets a star, too, for taking out the garbage."
Are you Playing Smart?
From a child’s point of view, even the most basic task can be a window into adventure. Check out these activities:

“The key is to start early,” she adds. “If you don’t, it backfires. The study showed that when a parent started their children in tasks at ages 9 to 10, or worse, 15 to 16, the children thought that the parent was asking them to do something they didn’t want to do. They didn’t get the concept of ‘we’re all in this together.’ They were far too self-centered.”