DO YOU PAY your children for helping you around the house? Or are you of the belief that unpaid chores and getting stuck in with whatever needs doing is simply part of family life and a good lesson for raising self-sufficient young people?

It’s a question I’ve been asking myself recently. Should I tie my kids’ pocket money to specific chores done around the house?

Or do I give them pocket money with no strings attached, the way I received it, to let them learn about finances, while still giving them the chance to earn money for one-off gigs like hoovering/washing the car, or helping in the garden?

Whatever way you do it, pocket money for children is an expensive business. According to a recent survey, the annual cost of pocket money is €1,196 per year, an 86% increase from 2015.

Currently, my two children get €5 pocket money a week, each. They don’t get it for doing sweet FA and are expected to do the basics, like make their bed, feed the dog, clear their plates after dinner, keep their rooms tidy and so on.

Often my youngest will help with dinner prep because he loves cooking, or my eldest will help with DIY because he loves to use power tools. None of it is really set in stone, and if they don’t make their bed all week, they still get their pocket money.

Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Like a lot of parents, we tend to fall into the trap of doing the majority of the household chores ourselves, because it’s quicker, and we’re so used to dividing them up between us on autopilot.

We give the kids the chance to earn extra money........

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