If anyone has a teenager who wants to help out, please send her/him my way!

Sigh.

Tutoring was done – at school, for free – as part of my responsibility for being a smartypants braniac. Chores were done – at home, for free – as part of my responsibility for being part of the family. (I think I was aware of the concept of paying other people to do your household chores, but it was something that only rich people did.) Newspapers were delivered by adults in cars. I didn’t know how to do most “odd jobs.” Selling things door to door – to the few neighbors whose houses I could walk to – was for Girl Scout cookies and school fundraisers, and anything else was verboten. Selling things on the street…well, who was I going to sell to? The one person who drives past every 20 minutes?

Or maybe it’s just “losers” like me who need to be taught, eh?

I understand that it tends to be better paid now in large part because it’s no longer considered acceptable to have 12-year-olds watch your kids, so people are forced to hire older teens who have other options to earn money.

In my case, it was because it appeared to be the only opportunity that was available to me to earn extra money (this was at age 14-15, before I could drive). I wanted the money because there was a summer camp I wanted to go to, and my parents said I could go if I paid for it myself.

But it soon became clear to me that chasing after hyperactive kids for four hours on a Saturday night, and walking away with $12, was NOT worth it. (And I wasn’t even changing any diapers!) And even if I did this every single Saturday night for the whole year, I still wasn’t going to have enough money to go to camp. So I gave up.

The lesson I learned was that my time and skills were worth too little for me to bother working. Is that a good lesson to teach a teenager?

I have two grown very successful children that I LOVE ( and raised properly), however I sometimes feel like I had them because that is what society expected, not because “I had a yearning in my female sole to reproduce and If I didn’t I would not feel complete” kind of thing. In hind site I do believe I could have had a complete, fulfilling and wonderful life if I did not have children.
Anyway, I would have to say that if someone offered me $20 bucks to babysit for the evening or cut their (average size,subdivision!) lawn, I would be happier cutting the lawn even though it is more physical work. If babysitting was soooo underpaid way are so many teenagers begging to provide this service?? Have you ever tried to get a teenager to do something they didn’t want to do..even for ALOT money?

And shoveling snow is not that hard. I do it from time to time, with a shovel (no snow blower here), and although it is physically demanding, provided that you dress appropriately and use your tools appropriately, it is not. that. bad. More physically demanding than folding one load of laundry? Absolutely. But I think it is perceived as being more demanding than it really is.

“Do you really think that men’s overall share of household chores has traditionally been as demanding as women’s share?”
In my life experience I would say they are equal. I also actively engaged in finding a husband/mate who had values the same as mine…We are considered equals and that I would not be expected to do laundry, cook, clean, wash dishes just because I have boobs.
HOwever, I do know ALOT of women who have a passion to do just that.. 100% of the laundry, ironing, cook, clean, wash dishes, raise kids while the husband is employed outside of the house.
In this day and age in the United States I do not think any women is forced to provide these household chores. If they do find themselves in a situation were there husband/mate is demanding them to provide these services when they do not wish too they have a choice to say no and move on to an environment that is more compatible to there desires.

I think the key thing is that you have a thoughtful, consistent system that fits with your family’s values and that you take the time to communicate your rationale to your kids.

We use a hybrid model – modest regular allowances, expected unpaid chores, and some occasional paid “extra jobs” for unusual stuff. We do ding the kids’ accounts though when they blow off expected chores. I don’t think that doing so “deprives them of the opportunity to learn money management” – they simply reach their various savings goals more slowly as a result – a lesson my wife and I are OK with. But, again, I think the most important thing is that the system matches your family’s unique values and financial situation.

Thanks for the thoughtful post.

Another example is how Elyn said : “), cleaning the neighbor’s bathrooms weekly (this was by far the highest paying job, by the way” Cleaning bathrooms is probably going to fall into the traditionally female jobs right? Yet its “by far the highest paying” in Elyn’s experience.

I will say that babysitting is unfairly paid versus lawn mowing. I totally agree on that and its likely a gender bias issue to some extent.