Every parent wants to do right by their children, and sometimes that means making decisions that at the time their kids may not understand . This can often be related to 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬, such as asking for one’s children to pay bills to help around the house.
Depending on the child’s age, this can be controversial to some people, as it can feel like the parent 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝. But another school of thought is that teaching children about bills early on can show them valuable lessons about life, related to 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲, all before they’ve even left the safety of the family nest. In a way, it could actually be doing the child a huge favor.
One mother from Florida, who goes by the name of CraftedAndCozy on TikTok, believes it’s never too early to teach kids this lesson. She begins her now-viral video by explaining she has a 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐚𝐜𝐤 that she’s incorporated in her household for two months and it’s been “extremely successful.”
She explains her 7-year-old has a 𝐝𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 he must finish each day, and if he does so, he earns $1 per day. But then at the end of the month, “he realizes he has 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐚𝐲 … he has his rent, he has electricity for his room, and he also has his internet for his iPad.” The bills are 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 and in a follow-up video, she explains it amounts to $5 for rent, $2 for electricity and $2 for the internet. She goes on:
“He then understands that throughout the month he has two buckets. He has his ‘𝐟𝐮𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲’ 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 ‘𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲.’ It is up to his responsibility to categorize his money and where he’s going to put it into those buckets before the end of the month.”
The mom then explains that she doesn’t do anything with his money except for 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭, before adding:
“It has taught him the 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐝𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲.”
She goes on to say she’s so pleased with how 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐝 is working out and that hopefully, it will help others out there. After the video was posted, it went viral, garnering over 2.7 million views. After the woman received a lot of further questions, she released a follow-up video explaining some of the details further. In her part two video, she shows her son’s task list, which includes:
“Make the bed, brush your teeth, clean your bathroom, put your dirty clothes in the bin.”
She follows this up, stating:
“If I see he’s being 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐚, for instance, if he gets out of the shower, drops the towel right next to the towel hook, it’s going on his task list next week.”
The woman also 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬 he has to pay for his rent and utilities, as mentioned above, making it clear that his bills only account for up to 30% of his monthly “income.”
While the woman hasn’t run into the problem of her son not paying his bills yet, she does mention that if it happens she says she believes she’ll “give an extension for the next month and then have that conversation at that time.”
It’s certainly an innovative approach to 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲 and with experts suggesting it’s never too early to begin doing so, it could be worth trying out.
Source: APOST
