Chores and Allowance

atheist parent 

You know, I don't know everything. No one does. But I'm happy to share the reasons for why my husband and I chose to do the things that we did with our kids. Just as you do, we thought about it, considered and many options, and figured out what made the most sense for us, what fit into our parenting paradigm. 

As for chores, Jerry and I were raised very different from one another so we had a number of discussions to figure out what we wanted for our kids with regards to household required chores. Boring topic, maybe. But we talked and talked about these issues back in the day.

I came from a place where there was no mother in the house with myself and my three siblings (long story) and Jerry's mother worked full time, leaving her two boys to fend for themselves quite a bit. Both of us grew up with many chores and many responsibilities and no allowance. Is this better or worse for kids? I have no idea.

Jerry and I decided that certain jobs are necessary for simple house and family maintenance; these chores would be required. Clean rooms, tidying of the house, laundry, dishes, trash, etc. For other kinds of jobs we might negotiate payment, that includes generally some yard jobs and a few household jobs.

So we're not an allowance family. We have been known to pay for some work. I have often given pocket money, though not in a regular amount or time to call it allowance. No one expects it or count on it. The kids have had jobs as soon as they were able. People often give cash as gifts. Boom, your child has cash in their pocket that belongs to them and that they can manage.

Over the years each of my kids have opened their own savings, then checking, accounts and have saved quite a sum.

So, yeah, that's what we do. Works for us.
What do you do?