What amount of chores and allowance is reasonable?

Question

I have a 9 year old son, soon to be 10. He is good kid and helps when asked. However, I don't formally assign chores. He is an only child and participates in sports three times per week. So he isn't home a lot. Weekends are good time for chores. I would like to set up a more established routine.

Right now he keeps his room cleaned up and should be cleaning up the playroom cleaned up after each time in it. He routinely puts away his own laundry as of a few months ago.

However, how many things would be reasonable? How often should he do them? What is the average amount of allowance for children his age? How do you calculate the deduction in allowance for chores not done?

Answer 1

My daughter will be 10 soon also and does the same as your son. I don't have any set chores her and she knows it is her responsibility to keep her room clean, pick up toys around the house and things like that. I don't find it necessary for a young child to have so much money like the other person said. $10 is way too much. Maybe a $1  for each chore. Write chores down on strips of paper and put them folded into a jar, let him pick a few every weekend and the ones that he picks he has to do. The chores should be fairly simple like cleaning the sliding glass door or cleaning the kitchen counters.

I am going to try this too!

Answer 2

Some age appropriate chores are:

Setting the table.

Unpacking the plastic stuff from the dishwasher.

Emptying hampers.

Helping to sort laundry and taking it to appropriate bedrooms.

Making his bed.

Helping pack up the toys room.

Taking out the plastic and paper recycling.

Bringing in the mail.

Once a month, he can be responsible for:

Sweeping the patio/deck.

Helping wash the car.

Spreading grass clippings on the garden.

Dusting baseboards (skirting boards).

Don't overload him with stuff, but make a fun wall chart, assign 5-7 chores a week, and tell him to mark the box each time he completes one. If he fills up the week, then give him a small reward or some extra spending money.  You'll have to decide how much money based on your family's finances.

Behavior modification is always more successful if it's done with positive reinforcement, rather than negative reinforcement.  For example, reward him for chores he manages to accomplish, rather than deduct money for incomplete chores.  It seems like a minor difference, but it really does change things for the better.

You'll soon have an independent young man, eager to accept some more responsibility (Mom, can I also put the silverware away if I'm careful?), and you'll eventually get a teenager that doesn't expect you to be his personal slave.

Good luck!

Answer 3

the average is around $10, but this is a bit much. how about $6 a week for keeping his room/playroom neat, putting his laundry away, and possibly setting the table for dinner or doing something extra like tidying up the bathroom or something like that. when i was his age and i decided not to do my chores one day, i wouldn't get my allowance that week. you should do it like that, if he's gonna slack it off, even if it's only a day, he doesn't get the money. and if he does them but like doesn't fully complete them, take off 2 dollars for each one he doesn't fully finish doin and stuff. so let's say there are 2 things left on the floor of his bedroom. he gets $4 that week instead of $6. if he forgets to pick up those last to things on the floor of him room and also forgets to put silverware at your place when he sets the table, he only gets $2 for his allowance that week instead of $6. if he does it one more time, (doesn't fully complete one of the chores) say, the day before allowance day, then he doesn't get any allowance because you would've taken off another $2 then you're left with nothing. so yeah...i think this is a reasonable deal:)

Answer 4

Make up a list of chores that you want him to do daily, weekly, and monthly.

Assign a dollar value to each chore. For easier chores give anywhere from $0.50 to a dollar. For harder chores, maybe $3 to $5.

A few chores a day, probably no more than three, isn't unreasonable. (As you already said, he already keeps his room cleaned and puts away his laundry... Those could be two.)

If I were you, I'd pick the items you want done weekly and monthly, make them worth more to him, and tell him ahead of time he can make X amount if he does them.

Keep a chart on the fridge as to how much he has made throughout the week, and give him a "payday" such as every Friday or Saturday.

I wouldn't "punish" him for chores undone... I'd simply let him know that with this system in effect, that anything he wants that isn't deemed a necessary item by you must be bought by him by his allowance. (Birthdays, holidays, excluded.) That way he's in charge of how much money he makes and whether or not he gets the desired item.

It might not work if he's a kid that doesn't care about getting stuff... But that doesn't sound like that's the case here since you already said that he's a good kid that doesn't mind to help if asked.

Hope I gave ya some good ideas. Good luck. :)

Answer 5

dont overload on him

here is a list of simple tasks he could complete

sweep kitchen floor

vacumn his room

take out trash

clear the table

rake leaves,

clean up bathroom area after hes finished......

maybe pay him 10-12 bucks a week

Answer 6

i made up a chart.....7 days a week on it...and listed chores..from making bed...dishes...putting away laundry...helped cooking dinner...and a bunch of other things...and after each chore i put a price on it...everytime he does it....it get initialed and i make sure it is done too lol....at the end of the week he gets about $10....which i think is fair for a 10yr old...the easy ones like making the bed were only a quarter....the ones where we got to do things togehter were like 75 cents...like cooking dinner...and this is the one i think we both enjoy the most...hope this helps

Answer 7

instead of jsut giving him money what u can do is make him financailly responsible...so he knows the value of money and can learn to manage...

for example u can give him like 20 dollars a month-but take out 2 dollars for rent...50 cents for electricity...25 cents for transportation...if he gets punisehd for bad behavior you can treat it as "jail" and assign a bail money..and if he doesnt have money for bail he can be grounded til he does.....its upto you how you want to designate this...tht way when he grows up and is on his own he wont blow all his money on "fun"...and he will realize the lesson of bills need to be paid first then fun...and if he doesnt pay up you can act as a creditor and garnish his allowance.