Doing chores and getting an allowance are ways to teach children responsibility, how money and work are related, and to help with household duties. However, family “chore and allowance programs” are often unsuccessful due to frustration, lack of clearly defined rules, inadequate parental supervision, unclear guidelines for “acceptable” completion of duties, and inconsistent or delayed distribution of allowance. Successful chore and allowance programs need to be easy to understand for both child and parent, easy to administer, and able to be reliably monitored for quality control. They also need to ensure a method for immediately granting income contingent upon successful completion of duties.

Why should children be paid to do things that they will eventually need to do as adults? Children should be paid ...