Introduction 1- Family Legal System 2- Family Economy 3- Family Traditions Back to Happy Family Into

An Inclusive “Family Economy” continued...

Don’t be in a rush to implement everything all at once. Take it a step at a time, and make it a thorough process involving a lot of discussion and questions and answers. Use the outline below as a guide, but alter the system and the idea to fit your family and your kids. If it takes a few weeks to get to full implementation, that is fine. Better to have it fully understood than to dive it without adequate preparation. Here is the sequence:

First: Announce to the child that you believe he is now old enough to become part of the family economy. This will mean that he will be able to have much more money than he has previously had, but he will be expected to earn it, and he will then be responsible for buying the things he wants rather than asking you for them. He will have an account in the Family Bank, and will have his own checkbook so that he can take money out of the bank by writing a check and put money in with a deposit slip. Show him how the checkbook has a check register so he can always keep track of how much money he has. (Have $50 in the account and already written at the top of the check register.) Tell him you are very proud of him and excited for him to have a checkbook and a bank account just like you.

Second: Explain that there is a certain amount of money that comes into the household, and there are certain things that need to be done to keep the household going and in good shape. Make a list of all the jobs, tasks, and maintenance that are required. Include specific things like cleaning each room, fixing each meal, mowing the lawn, doing the wash. Also include things like getting kids ready for school or bed, making sure the homework and music practice gets done, getting everyone ready for bed. Ask if it makes sense that those who participate in the work in the household should get part of the money that comes into the household.

Third: Ask how the child thinks he can get more money into his bank account and into his checkbook. Explain that you have decided that he is old enough to have responsibility for some of the things that have to be done in the household, and that if he can remember to do them, he will get paid on “payday” which will be each Saturday. Introduce the pegboard (which should have his name on it) and explain that there are four pegs he can get each weekday, and that each of them will go toward the amount he earns for the week. The first peg is the “morning peg” and can be put in when he gets up on time, gets ready for school, has breakfast and has everything together to leave for school on time. He can put the second “homework peg” in after school when he has finished his homework and his music practice. The third “zone peg” can go in when he has checked on and cleaned up his zone. (Each child should have one small “common area” of the house—a hallway or closet or front porch—that everyone uses. This should be an area that you don’t clean—that is left for the child.) And the fourth “bedtime peg” goes in if he is in bed by bedtime; teeth brushed, prayer said, school stuff laid out for the next day.

Fourth: Explain that before bed each weeknight, the child can get a “slip” (small cards or post-it notes work fine) and write a “1”, “2”, “3” or “4” on it, depending on how many of the pegs he got in that day. The slip must then be initialed by a parent (or by the tender if the parents are out) and can then be put through the slot into the family bank. On Saturday it is payday, and the bank is opened by the banker (we usually suggest dad) and each child gets his slips and adds up his total. How much “pay” he gets is according to how many pegs he got in during the week.

Pay does not come in cash, but by a debit entry in the child’s check register, initialed by the banker. The child can then take out as much as he wants by writing a check (or he can bring along his checkbook when he goes shopping with a parent, and write out checks for what he wants, always being sure to deduct it in his check register before writing the check.) The check goes to the parent, who then pays for what the child bought.