Chores are better paid by the task rather than the time. $1 per room dusted/vacuumed, $2 for load of laundry, $5 for mowing the grass, stuff like that. 

Why is he getting paid for chores at all??? You guys pay all his expenses.  To me it makes sense for him to have a set of chores that he does for free, and once those are done (if you REALLY have to pay him)  he has some optional bonus chores he can be paid for by the chore.

I mean, you guys are going to pay a kid, almost minimum wage I might add, for doing things that any family member should be doing to contribute to the household?

Maybe it was just how I was raised.  But until you're the one paying the bills, you were expected to contribute as part of the household.

ETA: With the skids, I had a chore and sticker system worked out. There was a list of prizes, and they earned stickers for certain chores, that they could cash in for a prize later.

But not $6 a hour for dusting .  You can hire someone for a faster cheaper job.  Pay by the job. And only if it done right . 

Chores are the contribution that a kid makes to the home and family. IMHO it should not be compensated.

Pay is for jobs that are above and beyond basic chores.  Tilling the garden, digging fence post holes, spreading gravel in the driveway, digging out the cellar, painting a wall, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc....

Chores should not be compensated and they should not be punishment.  They are done, there is no option but for the kid to do them... or experience escalating age apropriate misery for chosing not to do them. Then they have to do them anyway.

When I was 10-14 my paid household job was to dig a cellar under our home. We had a 4ft crawl space under the house.  My dad wanted a space under the entire house that he could stand up in, install storage shelves, and easily access.  I was paid $10/yard^3.   Over those 4 years I earned about $3600 for digging the entire crawl space out.  The first two were hell. I had to work on my knees until I had a fully clear space to stand on.  Then I could start moving some dirt.

I guess I did okay on how much I left under the piers. My dad staked the boundaries around each pier for me. Engineer dad was not going to let me undermine the piers and cause the house to collapse. 

We drove by that house when we visited with SS in Colorado in Dec of last year.  I was able to buy bicycles. a motorcycle, and have quite a bit of fun with the proceeds of my digging career as a pre-teen and early teen undermining that house.

On the inside, I swept, mopped, dusted and polished the furniture in the room I shared with my little brother.  That was after dad and I stripped out all of the carpet and refinished the hard wood floors.

The whole family invested a lot into that little 3br 1ba house.   We worked hard to make it nice. Our parents made sure we participated in the home with chores and paid me to do projects.

I am sure the people who live there now were a little weirded out by the stalker who parked outside of their house taking pictures over a couple of days last December.

We didn't get paid for doing expected chores. Didn't get an allowance, either.  When did people start paying kids to contribute to the household?

If he wants to earn money, he can do extra work, above and beyond what should be expected for a kid his age.  Cleaning his room, cleaning the bathroom, mowing the lawn - all reasonable for him, without pay.

We don't pay allowances. With 7 people- everyone has to do their part. We make the younger ones do the easier things. Like wiping tables, cleaning up their own toys, etc. BS13 and BS16 usually don't complain and just do their stuff to get it over with so I don't b*tch. SD11 practically has to have her hand held to do anything.  If any kids go a long period without complaining or being asked they get little rewards like a video game or something. They know this but the skids usually still complain because their BM is a slob and no one cleans at their other household. If they want something big, they better be earning it in someway to work it off! We did this when BS16 wanted a rather expensive video game. It was fall, he had the entire yard raked  in one day and didn't complain once lmao. Blisters and all. He earned it *biggrin*

I don't agree with allowances. I didn't get one growing up, and I don't offer them to my children. Being part of a family unit requires everyone to do their fair share. If this is not instilled, it can make for lazy, selfish grown-ups who leave their dishes for other people to do. I know some people who use allowances as a tool for teaching about finances. I think this can be accomplished by telling children what their budget is when at a store shopping for their needs/and on occasion wants. Like, we are going to the toy store today, and you may have $20 to spend. That way, child learns how to comparison shop, learns how to prioritize what it is they really want, not just impulse buy, and learns value of money. Once a child is a teen/of legal working age, I think it is perfectly reasonable to allow them to obtain a job to learn the feeling of earning for oneself, and to advance in the financial learning and thinking skill set. I had a small after school job (maybe 5-10 hours/week) my last two years of high school, and I still managed to get good grades, have a social life, do the chores my parents asked of me, and get enough sleep. It was a great experience all around for me. If you must go with an allowance to compromise, I would say set limits according to task, not by hour, as others have suggested. Or just offer weekly allowance for a similar amount of chores each week.