Bad work ethic or is it mustachianism?

[Neustache]

I've been worried about my daughter, who will help out, but won't do chores and such for money to spend.

Summary:  she always wants new toys, we tell her she can do x,y,z to earn money for it, she declines.


I was worried about this seemingly low work ethic, and then I realized....could it be she's just mustachian?  I mean...she doesn't need the toys, she just wants them, and has decided she'd rather play than work for new toys.  It just flies in the face of what I grew up with - work 60 hours a week so you can buy stuff (although some of that was working 60 hours a week so we could just live!).

[PloddingInsight]

I expect she's not financially independent, right?  I think the mustachian thing at her stage in life would be to do the chores and pocket the money rather than spending it.

[Neustache]

She's 6, so she's very dependent.  ;-)  But you are right, the trully mustachian thing would be to do the chores and then save the money...but expecting a 6 year old to save for retirement is a huge feat. (or at least MY 6 year old).  Maybe when she's 10. 

[eil]

I can sympathize with your daughter, I was much the same when I was a kid.

I was a bit older than six, but my mom tried to bribe me to get me to do chores around the house and yard. The problem for me was that the "wage" was pitifully low even by my young standards. Something like $1.00/hr. And there wasn't much that I wanted that was less than a couple hundred bucks. The idea of slaving away for weeks of manual labor just to have a video game didn't appeal to me. (Not that there was weeks worth of stuff to do at any rate.) I was happy to spend my free time reading or tinkering away on the family computer.

You could try bargaining with her instead. Say, "do this chore consistently for x weeks and I'll buy you that thing you want." I think that would have appealed to me when I was a kid.

[lakemom]

I've been worried about my daughter, who will help out, but won't do chores and such for money to spend.

Summary:  she always wants new toys, we tell her she can do x,y,z to earn money for it, she declines.


I was worried about this seemingly low work ethic, and then I realized....could it be she's just mustachian?  I mean...she doesn't need the toys, she just wants them, and has decided she'd rather play than work for new toys.  It just flies in the face of what I grew up with - work 60 hours a week so you can buy stuff (although some of that was working 60 hours a week so we could just live!).

I think your dd has just already learned at least a bit of the difference between a want and a need.  She wants the new toy but not badly enough to do the extra chores to earn it.  When she finds something she wants/needs badly enough she'll do the work needed to achieve it.  In the meantime, she does have regular chore as part of her daily life yes? 

[Neustache]

I'm not good with regular chores for myself, let alone for her! LOL.  Working on it.  It's more - can you help with this?  She loves to sort, so I use that - she sorts clothes, silverware from the dishwasher, things like that.  She also loves to help with food prep, so I ask her to do that as often as possible.  She is also expected to help clean up, but she does grumble about this, and I'm terrible at making it a daily thing.  So set chores...no....I'm just not that organized.  But she's expected to help out with the family, although I don't ask a whole lot. 

[Beric01]

I can sympathize with your daughter, I was much the same when I was a kid.

I was a bit older than six, but my mom tried to bribe me to get me to do chores around the house and yard. The problem for me was that the "wage" was pitifully low even by my young standards. Something like $1.00/hr. And there wasn't much that I wanted that was less than a couple hundred bucks. The idea of slaving away for weeks of manual labor just to have a video game didn't appeal to me. (Not that there was weeks worth of stuff to do at any rate.) I was happy to spend my free time reading or tinkering away on the family computer.

You could try bargaining with her instead. Say, "do this chore consistently for x weeks and I'll buy you that thing you want." I think that would have appealed to me when I was a kid.

Agreed, that was my issue as well. I bought my first computer primarily through birthday/Christmas money I saved. I just didn't want much, even as a kid. If you're financially dependent, there's a lot more fun things to do than work.

[Nords]

I've been worried about my daughter, who will help out, but won't do chores and such for money to spend.

Summary:  she always wants new toys, we tell her she can do x,y,z to earn money for it, she declines.

She's just testing the limits.  It's only a phase that she's going through with you, and it should end in about 15 years...