Kid Made

Q: My younger daughter (she’s 8) wants to give gifts like her older sister who works. I’m thinking of giving her some chores to do so that she can earn some money, but what can an 8-year-old do?

The great thing about 8-year-olds is that they love to please people, so when you hire them to do a particular job, they generally come through with flying colours. Kids this age can help out with a variety of jobs around the house, including folding laundry, organizing cupboards, cleaning out the refrigerator, and helping to entertain a younger brother or sister while you’re busy making dinner.

Ideally, you want to look for jobs that tap into your child’s abilities and interests. If she’s an organizational whiz kid, then she’s a natural to reorganize the front hall closet. If, on the other hand, she has a flair for wrapping gifts, think about hiring her to wrap all of the gifts for out-of-town relatives. Regardless of what you hire her to do, make sure you pay her fairly and promptly so that she can see a direct relationship between all that hard work and the money that’s building up in her piggybank.

Of course, you’ll also want to make sure that your daughter understands that the best gifts come from the heart, not the store, and that she’ll be able to stretch the dollars in her gift-giving budget farther if she decides to make rather than buy her Christmas gifts. Painted flowerpots; gift baskets containing soaps, candles, and/or herbal teas; a framed photograph or drawing; a homemade calendar; and a homemade cookbook featuring family recipes are all examples of gifts that don’t cost much to make, but that are always much appreciated by the recipient.