Allowance

A few weeks ago we decided the babes were ready for additional responsibility. Now, in addition to cleaning their room, they are responsible for clearing and setting the table in preparation for dinner everyday. Despite explaining that I do my job in making dinner and Matthew does his job of cleaning the dishes afterwards, there was much weeping and gnashing of teeth at the change. I wouldn't say the allowance is a bribe for these new jobs, but it may have been the impetus for the institution. That and I want to teach my children about tithing and savings.

Last week I put 10 dimes in a jar for each child. I explained that at the end of the week they would get those dimes, but if they complained about any of their jobs they would lose dimes. Boy Howdy still complained about his new job but with the threat of losing money he begrudgingly held his tongue. Cheeks was good until Saturday when she was supposed to clean her room. She lost $0.30 in the course of an hour. It was a sad morning.

Tonight for family home evening we reviewed how many dimes they had left and the concept of thanking Heavenly Father by paying tithe. We also discussed the merits of savings. To induce them to learn to save, we have opted to pay $0.01 per dime they save per week. Free money, is how we labeled it. With the promise of that "free money" at the end of the week they opted to put all their remaining money into the savings jar. Color me a proud mama. I'm not sure how long we'll be able to keep up with our current interest rate of 40%, but for right now, I'm just happy to start teaching my children the concept of saving and tithing.