Kids love to make money. When they earn it themselves, it’s theirs. Earning money from doing chores just isn’t the same. First of all, children should be doing chores because they are part of the family and all members should be contributing by doing their share of the work.

If you pay your children to do chores, that’s fine. That’s your choice, but you may want to consider teaching them other ways to earn money and that they do chores as a privilege of belonging to a family.

So just how do you go about teaching your kids to make money? Here are some ideas:

Toy Sale

This is a children’s version of a garage sale. They choose what they would like to sell, after discussing it with you of course. They decide on the price. They print up posters advertising their sale. They learn how to include all of the information about the sale on the poster – time, date, location, etc. Teach them about customer service (being nice to the kids in the neighborhood).

This is teaching your children the basics of running a business. Lead your child through these steps so he can see what needs to be done and why.

Pet-Sitting

There is an increasing demand for pet sitting. Many owners of birds, cats, and fish hire a sitter to come in and check on their pets while they are gone.

Your child will have to go every day and feed the animals and change what needs changing. Give the pets a little love and that’s it. Depending on the age of your child, you may have to help with the locking and unlocking of the house.

Yard Work

Before kids are old enough to push a lawn mower or handle a weed eater, they can pull weeds and plant flowers. They can also pick up sticks and rocks from yards before the owner mows. Pay the little guys a penny or nickel per rock or stick and they will have the yard ready for mowing in no time and will be absolutely thrilled that they actually made some money.

As your children get older, they can take on the mowing, weed eating, leaf blower and raking jobs. If they are good workers, and you should train them to be, they can have a great business going by the time they graduate from high school.

Dog Walking

People are so busy these days that they will actually pay others to walk their dogs. During the summer, they might like your children to walk their dog while they are at work so the dog doesn’t get so lonely and destructive while they are gone.

Of course, the age of the child needs to be taken into consideration as to where they can walk the dog and what size dog they can handle.

Cleaning

Your children can make money helping people clean out their crawl spaces, sheds, and garages. Children have plenty of energy to burn and can tote all kinds of stuff for the owners.

Child Walking

If you have older children, many busy mothers may pay for your child to take their toddler or baby for a stroller ride or walk around the block or even just to entertain a toddler for an hour. This will give the mother some free time.

Car Wash

Let your kids set up their own car wash. They can take a bucket with their supplies from house to house and wash the cars in your neighbor’s driveway.

House Sitting

When people go on vacation, they need someone to water the yard, bring in the newspaper, get the mail, and generally make the house look like someone is at home.

Sit down with your kids and go over this list. Help them get started by suggesting which jobs would be good for them. Give them ideas about how to get the word out that they are for hire. Help them print up fliers to advertise. This can be a fun and great learning experience for your children and they will earn money at the same time.

Jason Ladock

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