by Edyta Tehrani

Created on: March 29, 2009   Last Updated: January 05, 2011

Many parents  desire to  teach their children the value of  earning money for doing honest work , and while it is a very noble goal,  paying children to do chores around their own household does not really teach children what parents intend them to learn. The reason for this is that doing  chores is not work, but a responsibility of each family member to the family unit. We do chores to keep our surroundings clean, to help one another, and the last thing any parent wants is  children who developed a mindset that  they need to get paid for every little thing they do for someone else even the ones of closest kin.

Paying children for  doing what they should do without pay indirectly  teaches them that money is everything, which of course is false. These children will grow up to be people who won't do anything for anyone unless they get money out of it. This attitude can spoil their relationships with other people in the future as what holds people together is unconditional love. Expecting some sort of payment for every act of kindness is the very opposite of it.

At one point in life everyone gets the chance to meet such person. We all have been there when we trusted someone with our love or friendship only to discover after a while that this person always expects something in return for every thing they ever do to help us.  Most of the time such relationships soon end, leaving both parties bitter, feeling betrayed and cheated. Often a person who cannot give unconditional acts of kindness is also unable to receive them from others and suffers in life.

There are many things in this world that money cannot buy even though the popular culture seems to have us think otherwise. We are bombarded practically everywhere we turn with messages about buying and selling almost everything. Things are supposed to make us happy and successful. People are valued by the amount of money they have and it is damaging enough, we don't need to bring this overtly materialistic values to our  home because all that matters after all is said and done is close relationships we fostered during our lifetime.

In our family, children are taught from a very young age that taking care of our home, cleaning after ourselves, doing dishes, laundry, or taking out trash is something we all should do gladly, freely, and without grumbling. They see their father doing the dishes

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