Teaching children about money is as important as teaching them to clean their teeth in my mind. I want my children to have a good saving ethic and also the idea that you work for money to be able to afford nice things in life. Therefore my children are given pocket money, but in return, they have jobs to do around the house. We have always had age appropriate pocket money chores that suit each child.
My 15 year old is a huge football fan and supports his local team by going to all the home games with his friends. He pays for these tickets and the bus to the games out of his pocket money. We believe that this is teaching him that he has to make choices about what he spends his money on. For us, this approach to pocket money and chores seems to have paid off as our eldest is at University and managing her money really well. For teens I think having clear expectations is always the way forward. Dylan has to walk our dog and we have set days that this is his responsibility and therefore there is no confusion or arguments!
One way of choosing the pocket money chores for your child is too look at what is age appropriate for them and how responsible they are. Rooster Money have a complete list of age-appropriate chores that help parents decide which chores are the most suitable. Ideas for a ten-year-old include taking the bins out and cleaning the kitchen. We have used inspiration from this list to look at what our 9-year-old does. She puts the clean dishes away and also makes her own packed lunch. These chores give her a sense of responsibility and a sense of purpose in helping us.
We tracked the chores with a reward chart when she was younger and stickers help on fridge was a good motivator!
Another approach is asking the child what they think they could help with. My daughter wanted to learn how to make me a cup of coffee! I was happy to teach that!
We give pocket money weekly to the littlest as she needs more immediate gratification and to feel that she is being rewarded. Whereas the 15 year old now receives his monthly in order to learn how to budget. I want to teach him responsible money management which includes not blowing it all in the first week! This is a really important life skill.
We also have a few rules around the spending of pocket money. We encourage the children to split their money up into save, spend and charity. The Rooster Money app makes this really easy as it helps parents teach children the value of money in a digital age. From as young as 4 years, parents can sign up to our digital Tracker which lets your children keep track of their money, save towards goals and earn rewards while you oversee what money goes in and out of their account (you remain the Bank of Mum and Dad without making deposits).
Teaching good money management is a life skill that I really value and aim to pass on to my three children. When the children are sixteen I also encourage them to take up weekend jobs for teens as again this reinforces the work ethic. We like how Rooster starts this saving approach which grows with the children. It provides the opportunity to develop good habits. I have spoken frequently to my children about the advantages of saving from a young age. The earlier children save the more than they benefit from compounding – this is something I wish I understood earlier! Small regular savings can soon mount up, read this on Talking about compound interest, my teens would say this is something they wish they learnt in Maths at school.
Starting young with pocket money chores can only be a good thing! What chores would you add to the list?
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