Think back and tell me: When was the first time you were paid for your work?
The first time in your life!
It doesn't matter how old you are, or what it was for, just leave it in the comments
In my case, my first payment was when I was about 6 years old (maybe before) Yes, I'm not lying to you!
-Come on, I didn't get paid for anything special, 25 cents (picture below)- 😅
When I learned to read, I loved it. I could devour the books, but the teacher who taught me to read and whom I was very fond of, emigrated and I became quite discouraged from reading.
The class readings were piling up, the books that were given to me, I didn't even look at them. My parents did not know what to do.
My uncle, who is the enterprising person in the family, took action.
He proposed that if I would help around the house, read my class reading and 10 pages of a book of his choice, he would give me a certain reward.
I was intrigued by the idea and agreed.
I had to meet all the parameters: help at home, my class reading and the ones my uncle set for me.
At first I did some of them and others I kept (I couldn't get paid).
Eventually I adapted and got my first paycheck. A quarter!
(If you read me from outside Cuba, you will say: what nonsense! In Cuba, a few years ago, with one of those coins you could buy some snacks and with two: 50 cents, a soda)
As soon as my uncle arrived, I would tell him about the readings, he would check with my parents that I had helped around the house and give me my coin or coins depending on how much I had done.
I would immediately run to the corner store and buy snacks for my sister and me.
In less than two hours the money was gone. But it didn't matter, I knew what I had to do to earn it back.
With this method I not only recovered a habit that otherwise I would not have had. But I also got to know works and genres that changed my thinking.
Although I was a child, I traveled with pirates in the Caribbean, lived the adventures of Sandokan (by Emilio Salgari), investigated with Sherlock and discovered a thousand other adventures.
My uncle, too, would eventually emigrate and my goose that laid the golden eggs would leave (my habit of reading remained)
Eventually we would move house (I would be about 10 years old).
We moved to a neighborhood where all the houses had a front yard and some of them, also a back yard (mine was like that)
My father didn't have time to maintain these areas, so he offered us (my sister and I) to do it for some tips.
Just thinking about the amount of snacks and sodas we could buy, we accepted!
The work was not too difficult: watering some plants and especially picking up the leaves and fruit trees that fell.
I remember that the rake and the sacks were our size and we looked like two minions working in the yard.
By the time I was 16 (my sister 14), we were maintaining 4 gardens and 3 neighbors' yards.
This allowed me to have some money to spend on my own things (for those years, it wasn't much to speak of) but it gave me a hard-working mentality that I am very grateful for.
The concept of: value for value is something that every child should learn as soon as possible.
If you work you will be rewarded
In my case, I did these simple tasks and received a reward (which was not only monetary, because I was building my character).
Of course, there will be people who see this wrong.
Some will say that later the child will not want to do anything if they are not paid, or that they will become greedy and that is where financial education and family education come in, mainly.
In our case, not only did we earn...
If a plant died (either because we didn't water it, or because of its natural cycle, we had to pay x amount to my father).
This taught us that you don't always win and that as we won, we could lose it easily.
This is how my we learned to have an emergency fund.
At the same time, we also learned to take care of our tools and plants.
If a tool broke, we had to replace it or do the manual work, and in the case of the plant, we had to pay.
We also learned to save.
My father told us that if we left the 25 cent coin with him for a month, he would give us 5 cents every day for keeping it saved.
At first, we didn't know about multiplication, but just the thought of earning more coins by keeping the first one saved, we tried it.
Many times, this went down the drain because the desire to eat snacks and drink sodas was greater than receiving the interest.
In fact, it wasn't until we learned to multiply that we realized how much we could earn.
Later, my father realized this and changed the rules, but it was a good way to learn.
We never became greedy, we have never been miserly, and no, my family has never been rich.
So, answering to the question of this #weekend-engagement, I agree that children should be rewarded for what they do from a very early age.
Of course, it must be well managed by the parents and there must also be a lesson in each payment and, as in my case, there must also be losses (because that's life).
This system taught us to value of money, to value every job opportunity that arose.
Today I understand that I wasn't really earning money, it was an allowance from my parents, but the feeling that I had earned it, that I had made an effort to buy myself a soda, made me feel like a god.
It may be that you are against this, but in my case, it was the best way to teach me about finance and without even being 16 years old. Thanks family.
Without realizing it, by the age of 18, I had already learned about personal finance, time management, and had done more jobs than many of my friends. The best part is that it awakened my entrepreneurial spirit.
This is my experience. If you have any reason why you think paying a child for certain work around the house is wrong, let me know in the comments.
I will be happy to discuss this topic with you.
If you agree, tell me what was the first job you ever did?
Oh, about the cover image: The elders in my country believe it's the money tree (I doubt that's what it's called), my mom believes it too, so we have several of them at home, just in case 😅
