This is too funny. I never got got allowance to do chores when I was a kid, but times are changing where kids want to be paid for everything they do for you.

@Suelyn - then you should charge him $5 for his dinner. And then $5 for breakfast, $5 for lunch, $5 for driving him and his buddies to the movies, $5 for washing a load of his clothing... :)

This is what my older boy said "I will clean up my room "IF" you give me $5" Ah... I don't think so. hehe.

Ohhh I remember those days all to well.The only thing my son would do was take out the garbage.But his bedroom a different story!It was the scariest site and he eventually knew to close the door because I would cringe when seeing it I'm such a neat freak.When he actually cleaned it it would go right back to a dumping ground by the next day.Now that hes grown up and on his own surprising he has changed.I think all young kids like to rebel.

@mamaluv: omG! Yes it was K'nect!! :) :) I still remember the first advertises I saw of that! Awwwwwsome :-D

Unfortunately I wasn't smart enough to weasel out rewards for homework either :( my mom sent me to regular school and homeschooled me too - totally separate. I was homeschooled in both my own language and English (my own language has 42 letters other accents / characters to give you a taste of how complex it is), and continued being home-schooled totally separate from regular school and homework all the way up to highschool. She rewarded me for the homeschool bit, not the home work :( Well I can't complain, the "legal contracts" took care of the big expenses, and my mom was a sucker for guilt trips which took care of the small expenses stuff...hmm, this thread is making me realize i was a bit of a torment as a child! :-/ I cringe to think how my future kids will turn out...

@Becky, I do believe you mean K'nect :) And yes - that's so important to hold up your end of the bargain. I've learned that lesson too! Only I generally don't reward for doing homework. I consider that to be non-negotiable (though they certainly try...)

@Ali, I'll continue sharing my "wisdom" - though it's in the ears of the beholder.

Haha! This is too funny! Oh the things I have to look forward to. I think your idea is great but I do see the pitfalls if they want to be compensated for everything. That's a tough one! Let us know when you figure out a solution. So I can copy it, of course.

@mamaluv your story made me laugh :-) Whenever we wanted something from our parents, I would write up a "legal document" detailing what we want, and how if we're given that, we won't ask for anything else until we're X-years old, and if parents agree they have to sign (two names with underlined areas to sign) and we kids have to sign. Those legal docs never did last past a few weeks after our getting what we want :-) I'm pretty sure my mom has kept them all too! lol :-)

I also remember when I was younger, my mom would teach me (in addition to going to school), I'd have to learn 'cuz she said so (no negotiation there), but say there was a latest greatest toy I wanted, she would tell me if I did x-number of pages more today, she'll buy it for me. And she always did. She was never one to delay fulfilling her side of the agreement. I remember when Connect/kinect/something (no, not xbox kinect) first came out (it's the lego like pieces that connect via hooks and can make robots and cars, etc), I wanted it. So mom said if I did 4 extra pages of writing she'll buy it for me. Now this is mid 80s and I was between 3 - 4 yrs old. I remember clearly, as soon as I was done, we went outside and she bought it for me. It was *awesome* :-)

As for chores....umm...i'm actually really bad at doing chores, even now. So no comment on that :-P

@takoda - that was my husband's position too, that some things our kids need to do without being paid. We've managed to negotiate Room Cleaning, Feeding The Pets, and Clearing The Table as freebies. Everything else is paid but you know what? I'll take that small victory!

Claire you make me laugh every time I read something of yours. I tried
putting jobs up with payment for my boys when they were younger, but
that only lasted for about a week. It ended up be more fights over who
did what and nothing was getting done unless I did it. So now they clean
their room, take the garbage out and so on with out getting paid to do
it. They're not very good at negotiators.LOL My oldest is a big spender,
if its in his hand for longer then a day it drive him crazy, where my
youngest will save for something bigger. Its not an easy thing to teach
some, but its always best to try when they're little.