Paying Kids Real Money
A year ago I wrote about the financial incentives I use with my kids. It’s been an interesting few months.
Recap: I use financial incentives to strengthen worth ethic.
Reasoning: Better to teach kids:
You have the ability to do difficult things.
Constraints are useful.
We have the ability to meet our own needs…
…than (a) leave money upon death; or (b) put young adults on the payroll.
Each time I set up a new game with my kids we learn something. My most successful games have been The Allowance Game and our Summer Reading Project.
I ran through my thoughts on incentives on The Dad Mindset podcast.
A year ago we were experimenting with The Laundry Game.
Wash, dry, put away.
Get a tick mark for each completed day.
100 ticks = $500.
Seemed like a slam dunk from the kids’ point of view.
My son told me the payment was “ridiculous” and offered to do for less. I said, “Let’s see how it goes.”
So… how’d it go?
With our oldest, a contribution to the family (even paid) was a source of conflict. She struggled with consistency, my wife ended up hounding her, I nearly fired her (twice) and she threatened to quit. Bit of a mess.
Our middle kid was better, about what I’d expect from a kid.
Our youngest is a laundry whiz. She’s halfway through and her first 50 days were outstanding.
I’m starting to think about “what’s next.”
There’s a desire to keep things fair, but...
In the real world, I would have promoted our youngest to House Manager, increased her responsibilities and given her a raise.
To compromise between the two, I think we’ll offer everyone another shot for a shorter period of time. That way, if they don’t live up to the standard (of our youngest), we can exit without having to “fire” anyone.
Before doing that, we’ll sit down with each other and see what the kids would like to do.
As I wrote last week, I can make incorrect assumptions about other people.
Underlying the above are two beliefs:
Expose family members to market forces - outside jobs are better than working for Mom & Dad.
Let kids be “poor.”
Yesterday on Endurance Essentials, I wrote about Family Training Camps.
At the top of the article I linked my past writing on Raising Fit & Fast Kids.
If you have sporty kids, or grandkids, then these articles will help.