Banking

It's a high-finance world around here.  Last month, we decided to give the kids the opportunity to make some real money.  They have always had chores to do (we call them "Helping Hands").  But we wanted them to take a bigger chunk of the housework and responsibility.  And they wanted to have more spending money.  We offered it to them as a possibility, and they were really excited.  (So were we!)

The new arrangement is as follows:  Jor Man is completely responsible for the dishes.  In the past, Campster had the job of unloading the clean dishes and putting them away.  But she wasn't really tall enough, and we didn't want her to be climbing on the counters.   Jor Man loads and unloads the dishwasher, sometimes 2 loads a day, and hand washes anything else.  What a joy to cook when I know I don't have to clean up!

Campster is now in charge of the laundry.  Jor Man used to have this job, but I was not happy with the job he was doing.  I chalked it up to this being a boy thing!  But Campster is very into clothes, and, I reasoned, might do a better job at both the folding and the sorting of the clean laundry to it's respective persons.  I was right.  She does a great job.

Sher Bear is in charge of sweeping the floors.  She sweeps after each meal, and whenever I see the need.  I often will follow behind her, but she is learning.

Thursday is "Pay Day".  On Thursday we go to the bank and I give them each their earnings for the week.  Usually they have also done some odd jobs to earn extra.  After I give them their cash, we figure out what 10% is, and they deposit that much into their savings accounts.  It's not much, but it adds up.  They are learning to fill out the deposit slips themselves.

They are also expected to tithe a minimum of 10% to church on Sunday.  And they do that happily.  At least they don't have to pay taxes!!

Math is easy to learn when you want to learn it.  Money always is exciting to kids.  They have all saved up for rather large purchases.  The girls have ordered their Just Like Me dolls from American Girl.  And Jor Man bought himself a Nintendo DSi.  It was quite an accomplishment for them to plan, and budget for such a large purchase.  There was the weekly adding up of all their money and asking "How much more?" and figuring out how many more weeks until they would be able to order.

When there was the inevitable, "How about we buy it, and I pay you later?"  It gave us an opportunity to discuss credit and debt.  In this process, we worked on addition, subtraction, identification of money, multiplication, division and percentages.   And they begged me for the instruction.  :)

Of course this also teaches about work.  If they did a subpar job or had to be reminded, they didn't get paid for that day.  Although, for real illness, we did cover for them and not dock the pay.  Apparently we offer sick pay, and benefits!

So many moms I know are stressed out, trying to figure out how to cook, clean, teach, etc.  I have it so easy!  And my kids know how to do the things that they will need to do when they have their own households.  I will not have a 35-year-old living at home while I do their laundry and cook their meals! I'd love to hear what chores your kids do, if you want to share.

Wish you were here!