‘He Has His Rent,’ Electricity For His Room, And Internet: Mother Charges Her 7-Year-Old Rent And Bills, Divides Opinions

Oct 07, 2021 by apost team

Every parent wants to do right by their children, and sometimes that means making decisions that their kids may not understand at the time. This can often be related to financial choices, such as asking for one's children to pay bills to help around the house.

Depending on the child's age, this can be controversial to some people, as it can feel like the parent isn't fully supporting their child. But another school of thought is that teaching children about bills early on can show them valuable lessons about life, related to earning and spending money, all before they've even left the safety of the family nest. In a way, it could actually be doing the child a huge favor.

One mother believes it's never too early to teach kids this lesson, so she's begun charging her 7-year-old son for rent and utilities. But her method isn't about actually having her son pay her for the bills, it's all about teaching him the value of a dollar through an innovative approach.

Each day, her son has a basic checklist to complete. When he accomplishes those tasks, he's given $1 per day. At the end of the month, he pays a set amount for rent, electricity and internet usage, while he has the remainder to spend as he pleases. In all, he's able to "earn" around $30 each month, while his "bills" are fixed at $9, making sure they don't go over 30%. With the bill money the mother collects, she puts it straight into a savings account for her son to access one day when he's older. 

The mother says the method is working very successfully to teach her son about the value of money, so she decided to share it via TikTok, where it went viral. 

Experts agree that teaching children about money is an important lesson that will set them up for success in life. Speaking with Forbes, Sam X Renick, who is the co-creator of a financial literacy initiative and character named Sammy Rabbit, said:

“Without a working knowledge of money, it is extraordinarily difficult to do well in life. Money is central to transacting life, day-in and day-out. Where we live, what we eat, the clothes we wear, the car we drive, health care, education, child-rearing, gift-giving, vacations, entertainment, heat, air-conditioning, insurance—you name it, money is involved.”

The mother from Florida, who goes by the name of CraftedAndCozy on TikTok couldn't agree more. That's why she came up with her method for teaching her 7-year-old son about finances. She begins her now-viral video by explaining she has a parenting hack that she's incorporated in her household for two months and it's been "extremely successful." 

She explains her 7-year-old has a daily task list he must finish each day, and if he does so, he earns $1 per day. But then at the end of the month, "he realizes he has bills to pay ... he has his rent, he has electricity for his room, and he also has his internet for his iPad." The bills are paid to the mother and in a follow-up video, she explains it amounts to $5 for rent, $2 for electricity and $2 for the internet. She goes on:

"He then understands that throughout the month he has two buckets. He has his 'fun money' and his 'bill money.' It is up to his responsibility to categorize his money and where he's going to put it into those buckets before the end of the month."

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The mom then explains that she doesn't do anything with his money except for put it straight into his savings account, before adding:

"It has taught him the value of a dollar and responsibility."

She goes on to say she's so pleased with how the method is working out and that hopefully, it will help others out there. After she posted the video it went viral, garnering over 2.7 million views. After receiving a lot of further questions, the woman released a follow-up video explaining some of the details further. In her part two video, she shows her son's task list, which includes:

"Make the bed, brush your teeth, clean your bathroom, put your dirty clothes in the bin."

She follows this up, stating:

"If I see he's being challenged in any area, for instance, if he gets out of the shower, drops the towel right next to the towel hook, it's going on his task list next week."

She also breaks down the specific amounts he has to pay for his rent and utilities, as mentioned above, making it clear that his bills only account for up to 30% of his monthly "income."

While she hasn't run into the problem of her son not paying his bills yet, she does mention that if it happens she says she believes she'll "give an extension for the next month and then have that conversation at that time."

It's certainly an innovative approach to teaching children about handling money and with experts suggesting it's never too early to begin doing so, it could be worth trying out.

What do you think of the mom's method of teaching her son about the value of money? Do you know of any other innovative ways to teach kids about finances? Pass this on to any parents you know so they can find out about it too.