A note first: we make an app in which children earn coins for quests, so we’re not neutral. We’ve tried to set out the other side fairly, and you’ll see below that our app lets you run it either way.
The case for paying
- It connects effort and money. For most adults, that’s how money works. Children who earn it often treat it differently from money that simply appears.
- It gives you something to teach with. A child with earnings has real decisions to make about saving and spending.
- It can reduce nagging. The conversation moves from “do it because I said so” towards “it’s your choice, and here’s what it earns”.
The case against
- Families aren’t employers. Keeping a shared home running is part of belonging to it. Nobody pays the grown-ups for washing up.
- Children can opt out. “I don’t need the money this week” is a logical reply, and an irritating one.
- Everything can become a negotiation. “How much will you give me to feed the cat?” is not a question that most parents want to hear.
What the research says
The best-known finding comes from a 1973 study by Lepper, Greene and Nisbett. Young children who liked drawing were promised a reward for doing it, and afterwards chose to draw less in their free time than children who hadn’t expected one. A 1999 review of many such studies by Deci, Koestner and Ryan found that expected, tangible rewards tended to reduce interest in tasks that people already enjoyed.
Two things are worth noticing. First, this work is mostly about activities that are already interesting. It says less about taking the bins out, which few children do for love. Second, these are mostly short experiments, and not long-term studies of family chores. It’s a good reason to be careful about putting a price on things your child already loves, like reading for pleasure or playing music. It doesn’t settle the argument about the dishwasher.
A middle path: three kinds of job
- Family jobs: no pay. The basics of living together: clearing your own plate, putting away your own things, brushing your teeth. These just happen, because we’re a family.
- Extra jobs: paid. Bigger or optional things that help the household: cleaning the car, sorting the shed, hoovering the stairs.
- New habits: rewarded for a while. A reward can help a new routine get started. Once it’s automatic, it can move into the first group, with some warning and some celebration.
Separately, consider keeping basic pocket money apart from chores, so it can’t be withheld as a punishment and the lesson stays about money rather than behaviour.
How this works in PocketQuest
Any quest can be required with no coins, so family jobs stay on the list without a price tag. Other quests earn coins, weekly pocket money can be paid separately, and you decide whether coins stand for real money at all. You can also hide streaks if they don’t suit your child. Try the 30-second demo to see the loop.