by L.S. Watts

Created on: July 17, 2008   Last Updated: July 18, 2008

First let's look at why children should have chores. Many parents will argue that children should enjoy their childhood and not have to worry about chores. The problem with this belief is that when they become adults will they have the skills to look after themselves or will they become slobs without their parents to pick up after them?

By giving children age-appropriate chores, this is teaching them life skills that they will essentially need later in life. There is also the fact that chores teach them family unity in the fact that they are vital to the function of the family household. If you don't believe me then you haven't seen a young child beaming with pride after he or she has helped mommy or daddy. To them it wasn't a chore; it was an act of love toward their parents and a feeling of belonging.

Chores can also teach teamwork as well as independence. For a child to complete their chores, it gives that child a since of pride that they could do it without help. On the other hand if several people in the household do their chores, the child feels like a vital part of the family. Chores can give children a boost in self-esteem and good work ethics that will stick with them into their adult life.

If chores teach children responsibility, why should allowance be given? Well, the reason is simple. As adults we don't get our money without working to earn it. I have seen children that receive allowance just for the sake of receiving allowance and not necessarily for anything they have done. This does not teach them to value money. This approach could teach them to take money for granted because they could think someone is always going to be there to hand them money as they need it like clockwork. As parents, we are supposed to provide for our children everything they need. This includes food, shelter, clothes on their backs, etc. We even tend to provide them with toys and money to go out with their friends. So what is the point to allowance? They have everything they need from their parents.

The point to allowance is to teach them yet another life skill. Like I mentioned earlier, we must earn our money as adults. If we don't work, we don't get paid. It is as simple as that. Although chores do teach children responsibility and gives them pride in what they do, you can also teach them to see that unless we work, we don't get paid.

If the dishes aren't done, most of us won't let the dishes pile up in the sink. We will lecture and even hand out punishments to our child

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