Allowance Time

Seeing as Austin is almost 10, Trav and I thought it was time that he start doing more chores around the house and earning an allowance. Ever since he could walk, we've taught him to clean up his toys when he's done playing with them and he's a pretty clean kid so we figured he would do okay with this added expectation. We think it's a great way to teach responsibility, work ethic and the value of money. So I sat him down and explained what Trav and I had came up with and asked if he wanted to start doing it. I thought he would be more positive about it if it was something he chose to do as opposed to us just telling him to (if he chose no, he'd still have to do his normal chores, just not as many as the ones for allowance). He was so excited! He definitely wanted to start! So what we came up with is he would have everyday chores (making his bed, etc), "as needed" chores (putting his laundry away, etc), weekly chores (cleaning his bathroom, etc) and he'd get to choose 2 larger chores (mowing front lawn, etc) to do a week. If he did all these things well, w/o complaining, he'd receive $5 a week. So far, he has been doing awesome. We've been doing it for about 2 months and he's received his allowance every week. He gets really proud of himself when he's done his "list" and actually loves mowing the front lawn. Great job Austin! (Let's hope this continues through the teenage years.....)