Jobs vs Chores

Lately the kids have been asking how they can earn a little spending money. In the past we've given them an allowance that wasn't exactly tied to chores; however, we did expect them to contribute to the family or else they would not get paid.  It might have been semantics, but we think they got the general point.  It was successful for several weeks until the chores eventually stopped getting done and we respectively stop paying the allowance.  Fast forward a year and the issue has resurfaced. This time the kids took matters into their own hands.  Tonight we were treated to a very professional well thought-out presentation of how, when, and why they should get paid.  They provided us with written information about the jobs and included a white-board chart of how it might work.

To show how serious they were, my son James wrote up a contract outlining the details of how the payments were to work along with specifics on penalties, loans, and borrowing against future jobs.
 

I have to say we were kind of proud of all the effort they made.  I've been trying to come up with a fair (and EASY) way to handle this situation for a while now.  While I do feel that many things they do around the house are "chores" and should be done because they are part of being in a family, I do however feel that other things are more like "jobs" for which they can be compensated. The trick for our family will be to keep it simple and keep it straight. As with any new great idea or plan, it will only work as well as everyone is interested in making it work.  For now we seem to have the5LeRoy's all in it together and that's a good place to be!