American Parents Don't Understand How To Dictate Chores

The majority of American parents pay their children an allowance for performing household chores which can, unintentionally, send kids counterproductive messages about family, community, and personal responsibility.

In many homes across the world, however, kids pitch in earlier, feel better about their contributions, and don’t need money as an enticement, The Atlantic argues.

“How sustainable is it if you’re going to pay a child a dime for each time he picks up his clothes off the floor?” said Arizona State University psychologist Suniya Luthar. “What are you saying—that you’re owed something for taking care of your stuff?”

Luthar said that instead of assigning a monetary value and reward for each “chore” or task completed in a child’s life, that it’s important to establish that certain things are done “not because they’ll lead to payment, but because they keep the household running.”

“It’s part of what you do as a family,” Luthar says. “In a family, no one’s going to pay you to tie your own shoes or to put your clothes away.”