This post was sponsored by COUNTRY Financial® as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.
Oh My Gosh! TWEENS!! Do you have one too? I have two in my house and they can be a challenge. Both of my boys are in several after school activities; football, wrestling, baseball, and lacrosse. It keeps us VERY busy. It also has a monetary cost. We’ve recently switched our allowance system up and are now making them help pay for these activities. We want them to know how much new cleats, mouthpieces, and fees actually are so they can learn to budget their own money (with our help). We also want them to know that we ALL have to work for what we earn and getting them to do that work can be trying.
My husband and I were actually going over our budget today at lunch. We sit down once a month to discuss any changes and to make sure everything is on track. My husband actually puts it in his work calendar as “Budget Meeting” to make sure it gets done. We tell each other what’s going on so there’s not a surprise bill or event the other doesn’t know about it and we’re on the same page. We also discuss what’s going on with the kids and what fees they need to pay and equipment they need to purchase.
Getting Tweens to Help Around the House
I respect their time. I try not to bombard them when they come home from school. I let them relax and get a snack. If I notice that they are in the middle of a show or focused on another project, I will wait to ask them to do something or remind them they need to do their chore after they’re done. I know I wouldn’t want to be interrupted if I just sat down to watch The Walking Dead!
Let them make some of the decisions. Each child has a different schedule so I can’t say that we’ll do all chores the same day. My oldest son (he’s 11) does his own laundry, but he does it over a couple of days. I wouldn’t do it that way, but there is nothing wrong if that’s what he wants to do. My youngest (he’s 9) prefers to do a lot of his in the morning so he can play after school. Sometimes I know their plan will backfire on them, but I let them learn for themselves.
Don’t nag! My son knows when he needs to take out the trash. Unless it’s overflowing it doesn’t have to be done right away. It can be frustrating to ask over and over again, but maybe stepping back is a good thing. They will learn to take initiative and get things done on their own. Part of teaching tweens about money and budgeting is also responsiblity.
ChorePal app from COUNTRY Financial® This is a new app that I just downloaded and we’re trying out. You can add your kids and a list of their chores. You can assign what day it needs to be done and how many points or how much they earn when they complete each item. This is so a good idea since tweens love technology and are all about using their computers, phones, and tablets.
It’s great because it shows when they do their household chores, they will get a reward in points or money (whatever you decide). They were both pretty excited today because neither one had chores listed, only their little sister!! 🙂 It definitely makes doing chores a little more fun.
COUNTRY Financial® is a full service financial company from insurance to retirement savings and investing, so you can literally do everything with this one company. They also have a securities index that measures America’s feelings on personal finance. The last COUNTRY Financial® Security Index looked at teaching children about finances, chores, and allowance. The ChorePal app is a tool they created to help people accomplish that goal.
The other day my son had to buy ANOTHER mouthpiece and he was actually looking at the price tag! I think my relaxed approach is working and is teaching them to take ownership of their work. It’s teaching them time management skills and accountability. Good luck with your tween and let me know how it goes and how you like the app.