My daughter came home from school one day and shared that her 3rd grade class is having a book fair. “Daddy” she says “My school is having a monster book fair and its going to be awesome! So I need some money to buy some books on Friday.”

My daughter loves to read but is very slow to do her house hold chores. What a great time I thought for my sweet daughter to practice doing her chores. Cleaning time, she can earn the money…it’s clean money, right?  “Ok I’ll give you 20 bucks for the book fair after you completed your chores. When you’re complete check back with me so I can inspect your progress” I told her. That was the deal. She agreed and the cleaning began.

After a few hours went by, my daughter never returned to give me her status. Where is my baby girl? I thought.  I found her in her room playing with her toys. She completely forgot the order.

I realized that there was a bigger task to chore cleaning. Its following instructions. First I recognize the difference between a chore (an ongoing task that benefits the household) and a life skill (an activity that children should know how to do before living on their own, such as following instructions or managing a checking account).

My daughter needs help to follow order. We talked about it and she now is attentive to listen to details given ( I hope ). Chores help kids learn responsibility, which leads to allowances and maybe money for a book fair. It helps set the stage for life building skills to be learned. Our SaveUp® Banks will prepare a way for parents to encourage their kids to save which may lead to a life skill discipline for savings.