Do you pay your kid to mow grass?

[RatLabGuy]

I thought we had a discussion on this at some point but can't find it.

Do you pay your kid to mow your grass? Or just expect it as part of family chores? If so.. how much?

My son is 14.5. He's just now starting to realize that making his own money is useful. He never asks for anything and is really nonchalant about wanting things so it just hasn't come up much.

He doesn't get a regular "allowance" and doesn't really have opportunity for a job yet, so sometimes we'll find extra opportunities for him to make cash doing extra stuff that isn't part of the normal family chores requirement.
Our yard is ~.5 acre w/ a bunch of crap to work around (inner fence, shed, frees, playset etc).

Told him we'd give him $25 for it, $30 if he edges too, noting that the kids up the street will do it for $40 and a pro would be $50-60 and include edging etc. My take on it is, he needs some way to make $$ and learn that it isn't free, takes some sweat and inconvenience, but I'm not forking over pro-like $$ unless that's what he does, and since he's part of the family and gets enough from us, I'm not paying him the same I would a stranger. Sort of a mix between "It's your family chore" and "This deserves pay."

"Back in my day" I think I got $7 for the whole yard, $10 for my neighbors that had the big corner lot...

 

[a_kelley]

I can't choose two? Both no and only some. My kids can earn money doing anything I do not want to do. Pay varies according to skill and performance. My 14 yo daughter is becoming a great technician, and I joke that she probably makes more than some of her teachers. (& Likely true)

My 8.5 yo boy loves to cut the grass, paid or not. He does well. My yard is flat. He runs the rider. If I had a weed eater, he would want to run it also.

 

[RatLabGuy]

I can't choose two? Both no and only some. My kids can earn money doing anything I do not want to do. Pay varies according to skill and performance. My 14 yo daughter is becoming a great technician, and I joke that she probably makes more than some of her teachers. (& Likely true)

Valid point. Poll edited.

 

[YJJPWrangler]

Thats how I made my money in the summer. $20 a yard, cut, edged, and blown. Had a good little racket going on in the neighborhood too for a couple of summers. Hell, thats how I bought my first jeep

 

[Blaze]

We have a riding mower, my boys are 12 and 8. They'd probably run over the dog.

 

[77GreenMachine]

I think a kid is going to want money as a teen to do certain things, and I won’t just give it to them just because, so if my kids want to earn money they will need to do things like mow the yard and other little extra things to earn some cash. This is in addition to what I expect around the house already; clean rooms, vacuum floor, dishes, sweep & mop etc.

 

[Tom@Hilltop_Machine]

My parents didn't pay me. It was part of my choirs. So at age 13 I was out mowing all the neighbors yards for 5 bucks each. It was 1977 though. I think minimum wage was 3 bucks back then.

 

[JSJJ388]

I was told if I wanted to eat and sleep in a warm bed, Id mow the damn yard and do anything else I was asked to at the house. Now, the rest of the family (whole family, grandparents, aunt, great aunt and uncle, all lived on one long driveway) were a different story. I made $10/acre, and mowed ~10 acres every week for family and mowed 4 other lots at $40/ lot. Paid my step dad $25/ week to "rent" his 60" zero turn mower. On top of helping at the farm we leased and working tobacco and our garden (which me and my brother sold corn from). Needless to say, I worked my ass off as a kid and am better for it now. I was relieved when school started back lol.

 

[UTfball68]

I plan to do with my kids what my folks did with me...stuff around the house were basic chores...as you aged, you grew into a new level of chores for your age. Hell...I even started working at my dad's shop on the grinders free of charge at about 10...worked my way up to the mills/edms/water jets by about 13...and just did it as a family duty until about 20 when he closed the doors. Now, my parents also believed in 'you have your entire life to work, now is your time to be a kid'...they'd provide the necessity and basic wants...but if you wanted the Nike's over walmart brand...the kid covered the difference. If you want that $300 bat over the $150 bat, the kid covers the difference. If you want to go to that overnight sports camp...the kid pays the difference in the day/overnight price. If we didn't want the spare beater as our primary vehicle...the kid pays for it. The list and examples can go on and on...but to me that's what Christmas/Birthday money was for...and if you were really lucky, if one of your wants fell somewhere around Christmas/birthday you could double down. I think that gave me one helluva foundation of learning need vs want and how to effectively budget/save. That process worked well for me until I wanted to start building vehicles in high school...then I started doing odd jobs for guys my dad did work for, did that until I learned about flipping vehicles. So that's a long winded answer to say...don't pay him, that's the cost of living under your roof. If he wants more than you're providing, his priorities are either out of whack or he's going to learn the invaluable skill of the side hustle.

 

[rockcity]

I didn’t get paid to mow the grass as trade off for using the mower and weed eater and blower to cut neighborhood yards to earn $.

I think regular chores and getting paid for some chores is a fine balance. You have to juggle chores with the kid’s attention span and skill set and their desire to have a few extra $. If their chore list is so long, they only learn to be a slave. If they get paid for everything, they will soon expect $ just because they flushed the toilet. We have a good balance of regular routing chores (feed the animals, clean room, put dishes away, help in garden, etc) but have $ for other chores (clean the grill, wash car, and other age appropriate items) once their standard chores are done. It’s not real structured but seems to kind of work out

 

[drkelly]

My dad paid me $10. I think I started mowing the lawn at around 10 yrs old, might have been a little younger or a little older. I also mowed other people's yards for money. I think they paid more. I can't really remember. My son is 8.5 yrs old now, and my riding mower has every safety switch hot wired due to failure, so there is no way I would let him use it with some of the slopes I have to mow. I will probably end up with a new riding mower in 1-3 yrs, and he might be ready to do the mowing by then. I will pay him for it when he does. I will be honest, he has a lot of stuff because we buy it for him. He is our only child, and my wife and I both work, plus he has two sets of grand parents in town. I do worry about him learning the value of a dollar, but he is a hard worker and loves to help out. We pay him now for helping out with random stuff.

 

[RatLabGuy]

I didn’t get paid to mow the grass as trade off for using the mower and weed eater and blower to cut neighborhood yards to earn $.

I think regular chores and getting paid for some chores is a fine balance. You have to juggle chores with the kid’s attention span and skill set and their desire to have a few extra $. If their chore list is so long, they only learn to be a slave. If they get paid for everything, they will soon expect $ just because they flushed the toilet. We have a good balance of regular routing chores (feed the animals, clean room, put dishes away, help in garden, etc) but have $ for other chores (clean the grill, wash car, and other age appropriate items) once their standard chores are done. It’s not real structured but seems to kind of work out

I didn’t get paid to mow the grass as trade off for using the mower and weed eater and blower to cut neighborhood yards to earn $.

I think regular chores and getting paid for some chores is a fine balance. You have to juggle chores with the kid’s attention span and skill set and their desire to have a few extra $. If their chore list is so long, they only learn to be a slave. If they get paid for everything, they will soon expect $ just because they flushed the toilet. We have a good balance of regular routing chores (feed the animals, clean room, put dishes away, help in garden, etc) but have $ for other chores (clean the grill, wash car, and other age appropriate items) once their standard chores are done. It’s not real structured but seems to kind of work out

Some combo of these is pretty much where are at. Kids already have a list of responsibilities around the house, and they have increased with age and skill. They pretty much never ask to be paid, and are willingly helpful (except when I ask Jo to get out of bed at 8am on a Saturday morning for yardwork, he's not exactly chipper, but hey, that's a typical teenage boy).

We pay for basics, but they have to pitch in for extras. I pay annual dues for Scouts, but he pays for the more expensive Scout trips. For his birthday/Christmas present, he asked for a laptop. Family pitched in together to scrounge enough for a basic used one... but I explained to him if he wanted something to support gaming and CAD work, he'd have to cover the difference. I helped him shop for it and see that that NVidia chipset means he's gonna have to come up with more money... he took that deal and now owes us for the difference. So he's trying to work off the debt, lol.

 

[RatLabGuy]

My son is 8.5 yrs old now, and my riding mower has every safety switch hot wired due to failure, so there is no way I would let him use it with some of the slopes I have to mow. I will probably end up with a new riding mower in 1-3 yrs, and he might be ready to do the mowing by then.

lol, same boat. Every sensor disabled. Our yard has a hill and it's a bit of a challenge to ride the thing right to get it to not spin tires etc, even for me, and he doesn't weigh enough to push down the back end. And now, the reverse has died, so there's no backing up ;-).
But - he's perfectly happy w/ the self propelled push mower and seemed fine w/ it on the hill, so my problems w/ that mower have magically resolved themselves...

 

[JSJJ388]

Ill also add that with all the work we did, we were certainly taken care of. Very active in BSA, marching band, FFA, and Skills USA. If momma could afford it, they paid for most all of our activities. They bought my first truck (set a budget of $500, Id have had to pay any extra). We worked hard and played equally hard.

 

[jyaks]

As stated already, I did not get paid to mow our grass. Me and my brother would mow the neighbors lawns for money but had to give my dad a % of it for the mower and gas and whatnot.

 

[UTfball68]

I will be honest, he has a lot of stuff because we buy it for him. He is our only child, and my wife and I both work, plus he has two sets of grand parents in town. I do worry about him learning the value of a dollar, but he is a hard worker and loves to help out.

My folks are relatively broke still, they spend money they don't have on my kids...I make enough to where the wife can stay at home/volunteer/shop...the wife's parents though, they get stupid with what they spend. My girls most definitely have more than I ever had...one of the joys of being a parent. However, I get very uncomfortable receiving gifts or my children receiving gifts...I've told family/friends there is a cap, otherwise whatever they bought will get donated. If they feel compelled to spend alot, I tell them just to donate to a kid that needs it. It's difficult, I took my 2yo shopping and she's so stinking cute, I almost bought her $200 worth of clothes that didn't fit just because it was cute watching her pick it out. But not understanding the value of a dollar is one of the biggest things I fear for with my children...I don't want them to run to daddy or a significant other to bail them out, but I don't want them to resent me for not being more generous (for lack of a better term, I guess).

 

[a_kelley]

I didn’t get paid to mow the grass as trade off for using the mower and weed eater and blower to cut neighborhood yards to earn $.

I think regular chores and getting paid for some chores is a fine balance. You have to juggle chores with the kid’s attention span and skill set and their desire to have a few extra $. If their chore list is so long, they only learn to be a slave. If they get paid for everything, they will soon expect $ just because they flushed the toilet. We have a good balance of regular routing chores (feed the animals, clean room, put dishes away, help in garden, etc) but have $ for other chores (clean the grill, wash car, and other age appropriate items) once their standard chores are done. It’s not real structured but seems to kind of work out

this. Much more articulated than what I posted but it's essentially what we do. (Of course anything at shop is paid.. like sweep floor, clean bathroom)

 

[doc]

Thats how I made my money in the summer. $20 a yard, cut, edged, and blown. Had a good little racket going on in the neighborhood too for a couple of summers. Hell, thats how I bought my first jeep

I bought my '70 Monte Carlo @ age 12 mowing yards, etc...talk about a cocky 12 year old, I had a car! Note: car is great, but worthless w/ license, insurance, gas money, etc.

BTW, I had to our yard for free - or for room/board/food ,etc

 

[XJsavage]

Mowing the grass was a split chore between my sister and I. We never got paid for it but if we wanted to use the internet when we got home or stay out past dark on school nights, it was a good idea to.
My parents use to make a competition out of it. Whichever of us had the best grades in school got first pick on chores. It was back and forth usually. I always preferred mowing over doing dishes. Washing dishes sucks.

 

[Wes]

I never got paid for doing anything at home. Dad said do it, and I was expected to get it done without bitching. I got whatever done, but never without a little bitching. I mowed our yard for years. It was expected of me. Especially in the summer.

 

[VortecJeep]

I have two girls, 13 and 10, and I barely trust them with scissors. Actually, the 13 year old has scissors, but the 10 year old would hurt herself or one of the animals with a pair of safety scissors. So unfortunately, for my situation, my answer is they probably couldn’t even find the lawnmower.

But seriously, my wife has a list of chores that the girls can pick from and get paid for. They get paid once a week for whatever chores on the list they did that week.

 

[No fries]

I think a lot of it depends on your child's ability to comprehend money and desires, $200 Nike shoes and $20 socks as they grow it changes, when they were young we would give them maybe $40 for example when we went to the circus. Money is yours, if you buy a flash light and cant afford to buy cotton candy maybe next time they would choose different. If they decide to save it it was theirs to spend later. Both turned out differently. My son sold his Xbox, airsoft guns, nerf guns anything he could to buy his XJ. And now he also wont go out with friends because he wants a long arm kit. He save for what he wants but I question those priorities, and mamma gives him money so he can still hang with friends. Not excessive but she does. Our daughter who is older enjoys the moment and we still support her to a degree but that is ending soon. Wedding this weekend!

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[Croatan_Kid]

I never got paid to mow the grass, but if I wanted the yard to look decent, I would do it myseld.

 

[CLRracer]

School was my "job." Earn good grades, get a little cash. Earn shit grades, get grounded. Anything and everything chore wise was done because I lived there and was told to do said chore. But like others, my parents paid for scouts and everything related to it. Dad paid my way into the race track every weekend. If I went to a friends house for a sleepover or trip somewhere they always made sure my way was taken care of. Stuff a kid doesn't think of at the time, but looking back my parents spent a lot of money they probably didn't have to make sure my sister and I could be kids.

Duane

 

[a_kelley]

Definitely kids get many things free to them(even though they have chores and what not), that they don't necessarily acknowledge at the time that they get them.. until they have to pay their own way on their own.. and remember that Mom & Dad said... You don't want to grow up just yet.. which is why when my then 13 y.o. wanted a phone, I told her I wasn't going to pay for service but I would buy the first phone. So she started sweeping the shop once a week for $10. There's your $40 for the service. Unfortunately for me, as she's gotten experienced at working on cars... She doesn't sweep the floor anymore.. about time to. It's been almost a week and a half. But then again, it doesn't make me any money when she sweeps but we both make money when she works on cars.. she gets about 33% of the flat rate labor. I could probably hire someone and just handle the phones.. wait no. Been there. I'll keep her as the only other person here working. I can trust her, she has a problem, she gets me. And I taught her, so it's not like trying to relearn some one's bad practices. (Kinda got off topic a little)