Right I've been thinking about this for a few weeks now and this is where I've got to so far but would appreciate some feedback as to whether you think it will work or any obvious pitfalls I've not thought of.
My kids are 4, 7 and 9. I'm amazed we've managed to avoid the whole pocket money thing until now but its bound to crop up at some point so I thought I'd address it first. In March I will be starting a full time course and need the kids to help out a bit with jobs around the house so I've finally put the 2 together to come up with the following system.
Originally I thought of using tokens such as conkers or buttons that the kids could earn and exchange for pocket money. However I've not got space for 4 jars to sit around so I've decided to do like they do in the juniors at our school: Each child will have a slot on a page on the wall. If they earn a "smiley" then they get to draw a smiley face in their row. The idea is that at the end of the week these can be converted into pocket money. I'm planning to give them for doing helpful jobs, achievements etc, basically whenever one is needed, it can be adaptable. Can also apply to normal tasks like teeth, homework, music practice etc.
Can't quite decide the best way to convert them to money but was thinking of a penny per year. So the youngest will get 4p per face but the older one will get almost twice as much. Seems the easiest way to apply it but not sure how it will work in pracice. Means that 10 smileys for the older one would get 90p which doesn't seem that much - do I really want to be handing out loads per day? Maybe the value needs to be more?
Anyway just thought I would see if others have done similar things and if they have managed to stick with them and make them work.
Many thanks