As with many modern things in the Montessori world, there are differing viewpoints as to whether you should pay your children an allowance or pay them for weekly chores. Second plane children (ages 6-12) are interested in money, and learning how to handle money responsibly is a valuable lesson. So how should you do it? This is a tricky subject, and I’m not sure there’s any “right” way to do it! Here are a couple of different options that I believe both align with the Montessori philosophy:

1. You give your child a no-strings-attached allowance: a certain amount of money each week, unrelated to doing chores or anything else.

2. You give your child money based on some kind of chore system: this can either be a set amount per week for doing ALL the chores on her list, or smaller amounts of money depending on each chore she completes.

In our family, we do the second option… kind of. The girls each have a list of chores that they are responsible for completing each week (whenever they choose throughout the week), and then they get paid on Saturday. These are EXTRA chores that would otherwise be something I do (you know, in all my free time! Ha!): sweeping, mopping, dusting, wiping off the table after meals, etc. We do not pay them for the tasks that they have always done as daily practical life activities: unloading their dishes from the dishwasher in the morning, setting the table for meals, folding/putting away their laundry, keeping their rooms tidy, etc. Here are the two chore lists we came up with:

During the summer months, when the girls are off from school but I’m still working from home, the chores are mandatory, and they get paid for completing them all. During the school year, they can each choose if they’re going to continue to complete their chores for pay, or not! In an interesting turn of events, Lila asked to renegotiate her chore list once school started. She proposed about half the work for half the pay, and I was happy to agree. What a lesson for both of us!

We ultimately chose the second option (essentially working for money) because we want our kids to make that connection — that money is something you earn, and that you need to think carefully about what you spend it on because you’ve worked hard to earn it. People who choose the first option (allowance) usually do it because they value community and believe helping out around the house should be expected and not rewarded with money. I think we’ve struck a pretty good balance with having most things around the house be the kids’ responsibilities without pay while also paying them for EXTRA chores. But whatever method you choose is okay!

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