Dollar as pocket money

If every time I did some homework, which was given to me by my parents or my wife, I would be a millionaire by now 😂

OK, since the topic is about childhood, then I would only be a half-millionaire...😂

I'm probably not the most competent to write anything about raising children because I don't have my own, but I can tell you how I was raised and what my attitude and opinion are on the subject of this week's #WeekendEngagement given by @galenkp:

• Should children gain financial rewards for doing daily tasks and chores around the house? Discuss, and tell us what happened in your case when you were a child.

I believe that children should not be brought up to expect any monetary compensation for activities related to household chores, which should be part of their everyday life.
Children are playing, they make a mess of the space they are in, toys are scattered everywhere...
Should they unpack the toys they play with and throw around? Certainly yes.
Children have their own bed. Should they be taught that after they wake up, they make the same bed, tighten it and leave it ready for the next sleep in it. Of course that.
Children use the kitchen, sometimes have breakfast and lunch independently. Should they be taught to put the dishes in the sink after finishing the meal and clean the table where they ate?
It is desirable.

Is the child too young to sometimes dust or vacuum his room? I think it's not...
Should it be paid for every day? No.

Imagine the situation. You came home from work, sat down in the living room to watch the news, and asked the 7-year-old in the kitchen to bring you a glass of water.
And water arrives, along with a bill for the service rendered 🙂

Of course, children should be rewarded in the form of weekly or monthly pocket money, and children should not be expected (or forced) to do jobs that are not appropriate for their age.
But not to get them used to daily payment for completed activities...
Those payments, if established, would significantly affect the household budget...

Should we hide from the children those jobs that are not for their age? Not.
They should be introduced to all household duties that exist, they should be taught how to perform them, even when the children are not physically capable of doing them independently...
But they should know what awaits them in life in terms of household activities, because in 10, 15 or 20 years they will be doing those activities themselves and talking about them to their children.

What about me?
Was I paid for the daily responsibilities I had at home? I already wrote, if I did, I would be a millionaire. And I'm not a millionaire🙂

Keeping the room that I shared with my younger brother (whom I also babysat) tidy, dusting, vacuuming, packing ironed clothes in the closet (I ironed myself only when I became a teenager, when I started to cook as well), clearing the dishes after eating, washing dishes... and outside the house, work in the garden (planting, pulling weeds and grass, helping with picking ripe fruits...
And all that for free 🙂

I never expected to be paid for those jobs, but I looked forward to the pocket money I received, which was proof that what I did was appreciated.
And why did I never consider those activities to be paid for?
I can't even now imagine how I would feel if, as a condition for my parents who come back tired from work, I set an ultimatum to pay for housework, because if they don't pay me, they have to do it themselves, as tired as they are after a whole day's work.
As hard as it used to be for me to separate myself from the game and do the homework that was assigned to me, I was happy when my parents would praise me and kiss me for obeying them...

And did I have a way to monetize my work as a child?
I am.

I spent my summers in the village, where my parents helped my uncle in the agricultural work.
I played there and had no homework.
I had nothing to do, unless I wanted to be in the company of the elders and "help" them with the work they had in the fields and fields.

So I once went with my uncle who received a "homework" from his wife to pick cherries in his orchard to make homemade juice.
My little hands gathered a full bucket of cherries in a short time, and my uncle, satisfied that I helped him, gave me the dollar I had earned in my life. As a six year old, my first dollar 🙂

It was 1982, and this dollar was almost brand new 🙂

Since I saw that this job, cherry picking, is not difficult, and that my uncle has over 20 cherry trees in his plot, I asked him if he thinks he should pick these cherries and sell them or let them rot.
He told me that he was sorry and that he didn't have time to pick them.
He told me, if I want, I can pick them and sell them to the cooperative that buys peeled fruit.
He gave me a plastic barrel of 200 liters and was very surprised when I asked him for another one during the day, because I filled the first one with peeled cherries...
In one day, picked cherries from all 20 trees and filled two barrels. Uncle could not believe his eyes..
He called a neighbor who helped him load the barrels into the truck and the two of us went to the cooperative together.

After they paid me, my uncle did not want to take a single dinar from the money that was paid to me.
He suggested that I exchange the money for foreign currency.
I did this with a neighbor who worked in the Netherlands.
For the amount I "earned", I received two yellow bills with a picture of a bird with a long beak.
That were two 100 guilder bills.
My first earned money (thanks to my uncle who gave me cherries on a tree 🙂), which paid for my work.
A much nicer feeling than if I received money from my parents for tidying up the scattered toys in my room 🙂