When should children start doing household chores?

I’ve known Tiffany for more than 10 years and have always been a fan of her works. She’s a brilliant copywriter and mom.

So, it was a great joy for me to find her article, When are kids old enough to do household chores on the Jozikids blog.

By Tiffany Markman, copywriter, editor and mom to a five-year-old chatterbox, who tries to balance her workaholism with cuddles, books, caffeine & reining in her intrinsic kugelry. Follow her on twitter. 

No idea of money or wastage

My five-year-old, like most five-year-olds, has no concept of money – where it comes from, how hard you have to work to get it, why you shouldn’t waste it, what things cost, and so on. She prefers coins to notes, because they feel more like money. And as a result, she requests ‘a teensy weensy present’ whenever we go shopping and doesn’t fret if something breaks or gets lost, because ‘we can just get another one’.

But I’ve seen what this attitude becomes in adult form, and it isn’t pretty.

As such, my littlie is now expected to earn monthly moolla, so she can learn about saving, delayed gratification and how you have to put in effort to get nice stuff.

Chores for my five year old

To structure this, she’s been given chores: making her bed each morning, feeding three of our four cats once a day and taking her plate or bowl to the sink after finishing a meal. For these activities, she receives a princely sum of R20 a week. Which has to be saved up over several weeks if she’s to buy anything good. Cos not even a ‘teensy weensy’ Tinkerbell figurine costs less than R20 these days. [Read more]

Find a path with heart,

 

 

 

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