Working at Home With Kids

Wow! October is gone and November is here! It seems to me that this year has gone by incredibly fast - - and these last two months will fly by, without a doubt.

I took the weekend off, outside of working about half a day on Saturday - really rare for me, but it was nice to just have some downtime. We went to the movies on Saturday night and saw Grudge, which really had no plot at all but about made me wet my pants! And then on Sunday evening I took Ann Marie to a chili supper & bonfire at church.

It was nice to spend that time with the kids. They are growing up so fast - 8 & 13 years old, now. I'm glad that I can be at home for them and with them like this... it makes everything so much easier. And even with them getting older, I dont feel like we're "out of touch" at all. Actually, we're closer than ever now that they are at an age to understand more - and old enough to reason with (lol).

Lately they have both taken an interest in "allowance"... so I've had to put some careful thought into that. I didnt want to start something I wouldnt be happy with down the road, and I did want to make sure there were responsibilities and rewards.

So here's what I've decided - and we'll be starting this week: My son (13yo) will work for me here in the office, and earn $3 towards his allowance for every hour that he works. He's perfectly capable of research, handling the link strategy and content syndication, and plenty of other tasks. He's been helping me out for several weeks already, and it's going smooth so far.

As for my daughter, I'm giving her two responsibilities: keeping the car cleaned out and keeping the living room picked up. For keeping up with those two 'messy spots', she'll earn $5/week. (Her eyes lit up when I explained to her that equals around $250/year!)

That works for me!

I'm curious - do those of you with older children let them help out with your work? If so, how is that working out for you? Personally, I would much rather my son work from home on the computer than mow lawns or deliver papers...

It's very comforting to know that they have A LOT more options for their lives than we ever considered while growing up. It would make me proud to see my son manage his own successful online business by the age of 18... and to put my daughter in a management position with my business. Of course, you never know what your children will decide to do... but it's nice to be in a position to make that option available to them!