In the "proposal," Eddie proposes to clean me out.
Eddie has been pestering us for months for money for important things like Wii games and Under Armour shirts. Under a freshly inked deal that nets him a hefty raise for house jobs, my Lovely Bride and I get an 8-year-old housekeeper – and a trip to the poorhouse.
It’s not fair, he’s said for months, that his 5-year-old sister gets 25 cents for unloading the silverware out of the dishwasher, while he gets 25 cents for unloading all the plates and cups. (Good point, but Mommy insists equal work merits equal pay. And Carla was too little to handle the breakables.) We’ve told him countless times that he needs to make a proposal. How much should we pay him and for which jobs? Lovely Bride can still remember her father making her write a budget, where she proposed spending on candy, church giving, and so on.
Well guess who learned excel at school this year? (Thanks, Mrs. Clark!)
And the child included hyperlinks to a text document. And a bar graph. And snazzy arrows that I don’t even know how to put in. So today, on the last day of second grade, we signed his proposal, aptly titled, “proposal,” which sets out a price list of 16 house jobs and a weekly pay schedule.
Eddie proposes spending his dough on important things, such as Wii games and Under Armour shirts. At least it's not for new wheels and cologne.
If he does all the jobs once in a week, he’ll get almost $10.
Hey, I want a raise, too.
I believe that some jobs a kid just has to do. In our house, you don’t get paid for setting the table or brushing your teeth. And if you don’t pick up your room, I’ll put your stuff in The Trash Bag.
I like a housekeeper who charges only 50 cents to vacuum a room, but the quality needs a little improvement.
When my dad told me to collect the trash, I had to collect the trash. I did get an allowance – maybe $5 a week in high school? – without having to do much of anything. I think I got paid for cutting the grass, but it took an hour on our huge riding mower. I just don’t recall wanting to buy much of anything, except tickets to the movie theater 20 miles away.
Eddie wanted two bucks for walking the dog around the block, and we rejected that. Maybe I’m spoiled with having him occasionally walk her for free – but almost always under duress, with loud grumbling. For mopping the kitchen floor, we actually upped the pay from 75 cents to a full dollar – this task requires training and some attention to detail. Maybe this will motivate him to help out more. But something tells me that he’ll eventually choose to ride his bike and not wash windows. Instead of vacuuming, he’ll read a book. And because the new pay-for-work list is optional, I worry that this gives him permission to stop contributing around the house.
And then there’s the question of quality control. After today’s half-day of school and celebratory ice cream, he chose to wash the windows instead of play for half an hour before going to visit Mommy at her office. I never do windows, so I can’t complain about Eddie’s doing 11 windows and seven rooms, even if they do end up a little smurchy.
I can easily suck the joy out of things, so this time I’ll try not to.
The B-More Dad Blog 
You may want to check out myjobchart.com .. It’s a website that basically does that same concept only a little more detailed and you can change the assignments pretty easily… I use it with my daughter and 1 point is 1 penny to make it simple and she gets 25 points for some chores and as much as 100 points for others and then she gets to choose how much goes to save, spend and to give to charity. You can also pick specific rewards for the child to work toward/spend their points on. We did the simple list like you have for a while but my daughter likes myjobchart much better now and she goes online and checks her stuff herself since she’s allowed to now. But you can also print out the list for the week as well.. Oh and did I mention it’s free? 🙂
Mark says he can find Eddie a real job but then, of course, you would be out a housekeeper.
I like goalforit.com after a day of doing chores you get x$. Send him out into the neighborhood with a rake or some weeding gloves.
What I would do is go with the new Xbox 360, because you can burn games for the wii easy no pobelrm, and the ipod touch is retarded to jailbreak, or you could buy an ipod touch, burn the wii game, and save some money for the 360, or what you could do is burn the game, split the money for the xbox 360 and the ipod touch, Buy either on craigslist (cheap prices, and you don’t need an address.) But if you’re a good christian, donate it to a kidney disease organization. Was this answer helpful?