Should Children Get Paid for Chores?

Ron Lieber, the New York Times personal finance columnist and author of the new book “The Opposite of Spoiled,” argues that because parents don’t get paid for family housework, neither should the kids. Even so, Mr. Lieber says he believes an allowance is an essential teaching tool for raising children. Giving your children a reasonable amount of money to manage allows them to learn about the need to make trade-offs and the difference between wants and needs, and it puts them on a path for making “spectacular mistakes.”