We’ve been giving the older two many more responsibilities around the house; they put away dishes, sweep floors, put away laundry, and help make sure rooms are generally tidy. It’s been exciting to see them grow in maturity in this area. I know it will be something we will constantly be teaching them as they get older and can handle more, but it’s good to see them taking initiative and learning how to be responsible with what they can now. They make me proud (all my girls do). While we do have a reward system, there are some things they must do because it’s part of their regular responsibilities and there are other things they can do to earn money.
From time to time, Ben has also given them money responsibility lessons using the Dave Ramsey Junior Kits (we’ve already done the whole financial peace thing ourselves). I love hearing the girls talking about give, save, spend. They have a nice little wallet full of money, but they haven’t spent any yet, though they have ended up paying me if they neglect to do something (or sometimes when they’re late to something because they weren’t being efficient in getting ready). We don’t want them thinking money grows on trees, so we’re trying to instill whatever wisdom we can now.
There’s so much we have to teach our children; it’s such a big responsibility. It’s definitely a joy, but sometimes it feels overwhelming because you want to teach them well, but sometimes as parents, we just suck. I can think of plenty of fail parenting moments I have had. I’m glad God’s mercies are new every morning and that my kids are so gracious and forgiving. Parenting is such a juggling act. Most times I’m thinking, “Don’t drop the ball. Don’t drop the ball.” Next thing you know, I’m like, “Crap, I just dropped the ball,” and everything else comes crashing down. Then, you just gotta pick all the balls back up and start juggling again.
We’re following the Ramsey plan too. I think it’s time to introduce our oldest child to his jr. university. I wonder where I would be right now had I been taught his methods as a young child. My husband and I are still trying to figure out a chore/reward system and are a bit loss since we both came from families that didn’t give out allowance or money for chores.
I really enjoyed this post, especially since it found me after a morning where I just sucked at being mommy. Turning it around now. Thanks for sharing!
– Joyce
I always love your honesty! I totally sucked at parenting today. I’m so grateful for my kids’ gracious hearts- they’re always so quick to forgive me, thank goodness! My kids are the same ages as yours, more or less, and the oldest are generally good at keeping up with their responsibilities and my oldest especially is excited to do extra things to earn extra money, but so far I haven’t been that great at tying their chores in to their allowances. Just curious, how much allowance do you give your kids? We give our 5 and 7 yr old 50 cents for each year they are (so the 7 yr old gets $3.50, 5 yr old gets $2.50).
Hi Nikki! We don’t give our kids allowance. We want them to learn that they have to work for money, so money’s given for extra jobs they do around the house. They have chores, which they have to do (without getting paid) because it’s part of their responsibility (e.g., clean their room, put away their clothes, put away their books, clean up play areas, things like that) and their are extra house things they can do to earn money (sweeping the downstairs, putting away all the laundry, etc…), so those things they get paid for. Our thinking is as adults we don’t get random allowance, but all the money we get is money we work for, so we see it beneficial for us to distribute money that way because that is how they will earn money later as adults. I think what we pay them ends up being similar to the amount you distribute for allowance.
You are so right bringing up children is such a huge responsibility – and know we don’t always get is right, but admitting we got it wrong sometimes is a good thing. Our older four always did chores and now that they have homes of their own they tell me that it was a good grounding for them. Our youngest is only four but he still has to tidy his things away. We don’t give him any pocket money yet.
Our 4 year old sees the older two earning money, so it kind of motivates her to do a little more, so we pay when she decides she wants to contribute to the cleaning. She is motivated by the idea of buying her own coloring book!
what great things to teach your girls. you sure have a knack for this parenting thing 🙂
xxoo,
nikki
http://www.dreaminneon.blogspot.com
Thank you, but sometimes I really don’t!
This topic is always on my mind. Sometimes being a parent seems so overwhelming, and plenty of nights when the kids are in bed I sit and rethink the day and know I could have done better. It’s such a big job.
Amazing work pals, I really enjoy reading your interesting blogs.