Should you pay kids for chores? Pros, cons and 4 setups

Should you pay kids for chores? Most of the advice, from both camps, lands on the same split: everyday family jobs stay unpaid, and money comes separately. That can be a regular allowance (pocket money in the UK and Australia) used to teach money skills, or pay for extra jobs that go beyond the everyday. Paying for every chore risks turning family life into a price list. Paying nothing at all misses a chance to teach how money works.

The research here is thin and mostly surveys, so this is a choice about what you want to teach. Below are the arguments on both sides, four setups families use, and what fits each age from 3 to 12.

Should you pay kids for chores? The short answer

Don't pay for the everyday. Making the bed or clearing a plate is part of living in a family. Even the "commission" camp, which pays for chores, keeps these unpaid (more below).
If you want to teach money, give money a job. A regular allowance with a save part and a spend part, or pay for real extra work, teaches more than coins for brushing teeth.
Points or stickers are a different tool. They help a new habit get started and then fade. They don't need to turn into cash.

The case for paying kids for chores

Money comes from work. The clearest version of this view comes from Ramsey Solutions, a US personal finance company, which recommends a "commission" system: "If (and when) your kids work, they get paid. And if they don't work, they don't get paid." The argument is that a child who links money to effort early is better prepared for a first job, while an allowance they get regardless is, in its words, "basically free money."

Pediatric advice allows it. The American Academy of Pediatrics' chores page says parents "may also want to consider tangible rewards like allowances and stickers tied to completed chores." It puts honest praise first, calling it possibly "the most effective way of motivating your child."

It gives abstract money something concrete. For young children, the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau lists "you earn money by working" among the first money ideas to teach at ages 3 to 5. For ages 6 to 12, it says "you can earn money through an allowance or by doing jobs for the family or others."

The survey numbers don't count against it. Lewis Mandell, who wrote the 2001 report on the Jump$tart Coalition's 2000 survey of US high school seniors, summarizes it on his site. Students who got no allowance scored 52.5% on a financial literacy test, those with an allowance tied to chores 52.1%, and those with an unconditional allowance 49.1%. The gaps are small, the page is his own review, and a survey of teens can't show that one setup causes better money skills. In that survey, at least, chore-linked money didn't come out worse than cash with no strings.

The case against paying for chores

Chores are part of family life. Naître et grandir, a Quebec parenting site, is clear on everyday tasks: "Ce n'est pas une bonne idée de donner de l'argent à votre enfant pour effectuer des tâches courantes" ("It's not a good idea to give your child money for routine tasks"). It suggests explaining that everyone pitches in because they're part of the family.

It can send the wrong message. An article by social pedagogue Beate Weymann in the Familienhandbuch, an online parenting handbook of the Bavarian State Institute of Early Childhood Education and Media Literacy (IFP), argues against paying for household help because children pick up messages like "Wenn ich nicht bezahlt werde, brauche ich nichts zu machen" ("If I'm not paid, I don't need to do anything").

A child can opt out. Ron Lieber, a personal finance writer for The New York Times, sees allowance as a tool for teaching things like patience, moderation, thrift and generosity. In an NPR interview he said: "allowance is a teaching tool here. We don't want to couple it to labor." His worry is the child who decides they don't need the money and stops doing chores. He isn't soft on chores, though. "Any 10-year-old is capable of making the family dinner and should be," he told CNBC in 2015. His lever for misbehavior, as CNBC sums it up, is taking away something the child values more, like screen time. That trade has its own catches, which we cover in our guide to screen time as a reward.

Paying for helping can crowd it out, at least in toddlers. In a 2008 study, 20-month-olds who got a material reward for helping were later less likely to help again than toddlers who got praise or nothing. It's one lab study with toddlers younger than any child in this guide, and chores are not the same as spontaneous helping. It's still a reason not to pay for the small kind things children do on their own.

Children and parents may see chores differently. Mandell's review cites an Australian study from 1995 in which adolescents saw household work more as a way to earn pocket money, while parents saw it mainly as learning to do a fair share. If you pay for chores, your child may take the money as the whole point.

Where both camps agree

Read the two sides closely and there's a shared rule. Even the "commission" camp keeps the everyday unpaid:

Source	Everyday family jobs	Extra jobs	Allowance
Ramsey Solutions (pay camp)	Unpaid: "commissioned chores should be separate from routine family chores"	Paid, per job	Replaced by commission
Naître et grandir	Unpaid	"A small amount" for seasonal jobs like raking leaves or shoveling snow is fine	Fixed amount by age, not tied to daily tasks
Ron Lieber	Expected, not paid	Not his focus	Yes, as a teaching tool (spend, save, give)
IFP Familienhandbuch	Unpaid	Not covered	Discussed separately
AAP	Praise first; may add allowance or stickers tied to chores	Not covered	Optional, can be tied to chores

So the real question for most families is what money is for in your house, and which jobs count as extra.

Four ways to set it up

Setup	How it works	What it teaches	Watch out for	Fits ages (our suggestion)
1. Allowance, chores separate	A fixed weekly amount. Chores are expected and unpaid	Managing money: saving up and waiting	Needs a plan for "won't do chores," since money isn't the lever	6–12
2. Everyday unpaid, extras paid	Family jobs are unpaid. Bigger or unusual jobs (washing the car, raking leaves) earn money	Money comes from effort beyond the usual	Kids may push to reclassify everyday jobs as "extra"	7–12
3. Points toward rewards	Tasks earn points or stickers. Points buy rewards you choose, which can include a small amount of money	Effort adds up to something; waiting and saving	Points for self-care should fade once the habit sticks	3–12
4. Commission	Each chore has a price. No work, no pay	Money comes from work	Everything gets a price; a child who doesn't want money can opt out	8–12

Many families combine them: points for a young child's routine, an allowance from around school age, and paid extras for older kids who want to save for something bigger.

What fits each age

These are our suggestions, built on the sources above.

Ages 3 to 5. Keep money out of chores. At this age, "put your toys in the basket" works best with praise and doing it together, and our guide to chores for 3- to 6-year-olds shows what's realistic. If you want a reward system, use points or stickers toward experiences like an extra story or baking together. Money ideas can come through play, like a coin jar or waiting a week to buy something small.

Ages 6 to 8. A good age to start a small allowance if you want to teach money. Split it into jars or pots (spend and save is enough to start). Everyday jobs stay unpaid. A points system can still run alongside for new habits, and a small amount of money can be one of the rewards on the list.

Ages 9 to 12. Children can handle bigger jobs and bigger goals. Paid extras make sense here: a job that takes real effort, has a clear finish line and wouldn't happen every week anyway. Let your child save toward something they chose and track it. Our guide to life skills by age lists the family jobs a 9- to 12-year-old can own unpaid.

How much should you pay a child for chores?

There's no official figure, and amounts depend on your budget and where you live. Two reference points from the sources:

Ramsey Solutions mentions a common rate of "up to $1–2 per year of your kid's age, per week," with up to $1 per year of age for children up to 12 or 13, depending on how much they work.
Ron Lieber described giving his 7-year-old $3 a week: $1 to spend, $1 to save and $1 to give to a cause of the child's choice. That's one family's setup, shared as an example.

For paid extras, put the price on the job rather than the hour. A clear job with a set price ("wash the car, inside and out") is easier to agree on than an hourly rate, and it ends the "I've been working for ages" debate.

In the reward list we built for our app, money is one reward among many. The suggested amounts are small and shown in your local currency:

Reward	Ages 3–5	Ages 6–8	Ages 9–12
Allowance (pocket money)	1 for 15 honey	2 for 20 honey	5 for 30 honey
Money for your savings	2 for 40 honey	5 for 60 honey	10 for 80 honey
For comparison: trip to the park	8 honey	12 honey	15 honey

Honey is the app's word for points. The app's starter set for a 7-year-old earns 10 honey on a day when every task is done, so the 6-to-8 money reward is about two full days away. Parents can change every amount, or leave money off the list.

What not to pay for

Self-care. Brushing teeth and getting dressed are habits to build. Points can help them start; money isn't needed.
Spontaneous kindness. Carrying in the shopping without being asked deserves a thank-you. A fee would turn it into a job.
Every single chore. Once everything has a price, "How much will you give me?" becomes the answer to every request.

And one rule for any system: don't take back what's been earned as a punishment. If a paid job wasn't done, it simply isn't paid. Taking stickers or money away for unrelated behavior is one of the ways reward charts backfire.

If your worry is getting chores done at all, money is rarely the missing piece. A visible list, a clear definition of "done" and one calm instruction do more; our one-week reset for chores without nagging walks through it.

Frequently asked questions

Should I pay my child for chores?

For everyday family jobs, most sources say no, and even the "pay your kids" camp keeps routine chores unpaid. Paying for real extra jobs, or giving an allowance to teach money management, are both reasonable. Pick based on what you want your child to learn about money.

Should allowance be tied to chores?

Advice splits. Ramsey Solutions says yes, as commission. Ron Lieber and Naître et grandir say no: allowance is for learning to manage money, and chores are part of family life. A common middle path keeps the allowance separate and pays only for extra jobs.

What are the pros and cons of paying kids for chores?

Pros: it links money to effort, gives children their own money to manage, and can motivate bigger jobs. Cons: it can make every chore negotiable, a child who doesn't want the money can opt out, and paying for helping may crowd out the wish to help. The survey evidence on money skills is small and mixed.

At what age should kids start getting an allowance?

There's no official age. The CFPB introduces the idea that money is earned by working from ages 3 to 5, and mentions earning through an allowance or family jobs for ages 6 to 12. Many families start a small allowance once a child can count coins and wait to buy something.

In Habibee, kids earn honey for the tasks you pick, and you choose the rewards in the Hive. Money can be one of them, next to experiences, at an amount you set; the app tracks the honey and you hand the money over yourself. It's out in November 2026; join the waitlist at habibee.app.

Should you pay kids for chores? Allowance, points and rewards compared