PAYjr teaches kids how to earn money responsibly while helping parents manage the allocation of household chores.
PAYjr offers an allowance and chore system that allows parents to assign household chores online, designate a money value for those chores, and provide a financial reward when chores are successfully completed. PAYjr supports instant messaging, e-mail and text messaging to notify children when their parents assign new chores or when money has been deposited into their PAYjr account or other savings account. Likewise PAYjr notifies parents when a chore has been completed, building up a record of chores over time.
PAYjr is sort of a CRM billing system for the family. The use of online tracking applied to kid’s chores is a good idea, adding support for TXT and IM makes it better again. Parents with kids looking for a different way of managing the allocation of chores will like PAYjr.
PAYjr will soon be followed by FEEDjr, TEACHjr and a bunch of other applications until …. we don’t even have to talk to them kids anymore
Or
?
Zolli, haha, very true.
Your family is in a pretty sad state if you need something like this to dish out chores, to be honest.
lol – actually, we use the system already with our kids and they love it. It hasn’t replaced communication, its faciliated it.
What a cool site…I’ve never heard of this before. I wonder if I can use it with my husband…;) I sure wish PAYjr was around when I was a teen.
What happened to the good ol’ chore wheel?
I don’t have kids – but this is definetly a nifty idea. Probably will catch on with a good sized niche, though it will be a bit limited b/c of the lack of technology knowledge amongst some parents.
I ran across PayJr a few months ago and its been great for our family but we don’t use their chore chart functionality, we just use them for their prepaid cards with our three girls and they have really been a blessing.
How about, the ‘ole slap to the face if you didn’t do what you were told. That helped get me on the right track. Oooooo, a warning email!!! How scary!
Paying your kids to do chores around the house is such a stupid idea. What’s next? asking them to pay you back for food and utilities? If you really want to teach them about business, get them a RuneScape account and have them start a business over there.
Interesting idea and concept… my problem is this should be done IN PERSON and not simply a list where the child has to go online to find out what to do next, get paid etc. I got no problem with kids getting paid to do household chores, as long as they also need to cover relative household expenses as well.
Jon
sheila, mike judge . . . stop astroturfing. . . its very obvious these days
I was daycare setting 10 mexican kids, 8 white kids, 3 african kids, 2 chinese kids, and 5 latino kids.
They won’t do chores online. They wouldn’t listen to you. They would scream, running, and throw stuff everywhere in room. They want to watch cartoon rather than courthouse TV. They hated… Judge judy, etc… You should see NYC public channels. No cartoons on monday to fridays.
A mexican kid say “ice is a toy”; white kid say “yeah.”; I’ve to shut them up. They won’t… Chores won’t work…
zoli
lol.
My wife suggested to me after reading this post that she’d allocate chores to me this way, I’d be more likely to get them done if I’m reminded by an online service
YOU HAVE TO BE FUCKING KIDDING ME
I think it’s a great idea. Any software created for the family is a step in the right direction.
Is it overkill? Probably. But I would invest money in this over some silly “take a picture a day” site anytime.
This has to be one of the dumbest startups ever. First of all, WTF is their biz model? Second, who needs this???? Seriously! If you can’t even talk to your kids or put up a note/board on the fridge or something then maybe you should be looking for a web 2.0 therapy service instead..
Does the service include live web-conferencing with your children, so you don’t have to travel on a regular basis to discuss the latest chores?
Or just use a broader application like http://www.kushcash.com that can be used the same way but has other applicable uses like: personal loans, sending money to out of state relatives and as an all around payment system for small or large businesses. I DO think that it’s a GREAT idea and wish PayJr. well!
My friend’s 5 year old son is enrolled in a martial arts program where they incorporate kids chores as a part of the learning/discipline process. The kids fill out a chores sheet which if they do well on then maybe they get a reward like going to the zoo. The parents were ecstatic about this as it made things a bit easier for them since the kids were learning life lessons in addition knowing how to kick each other in the nuts. But of course this program is being conducted in the real world instead of a web 2.0 app….at least some people still have a clue.
The Chore aspect of the site will probably will for some, and not for others. I like the prepaid card side of it. I got one of those myself to help me budget a few months ago, and it works great. You can only spend what is on the card! And no overdraft fees from the Bank if you make a mistake. You just can’t buy what you want. Could be a great combination of ideas.
Next we need http://www.sleepr.com so we can work with our kids on when they should go to bed each evening
Good to know that some people don’t care this prepaid card has a $5 one-time, a $3 monthly, and a $.50/load. My bank offers these cards for a $3 one-time only (as a bank customer), to give to any un-banked friend or family member. Check your bank!
Now this is a funny thread. The 20-somethings are all “why on earth would you need a web service to handle chores and allowances?” in the same way that 30+ somethings wonder “why on earth do you need a service to broadcast your minute-by-minute musings in 25 words or less via SMS?”
Big fat -1 for this. What happened to talking to your children? Lunch together? Dinner? Weekend trips to the country side? Awful idea.
Pathetic. An attempt to replace face-to-face communication between parents and children with a “web services” tool, and an attempt to get rip-off pre-paid cards to replace cash, all gussied up as a “teach your child to be responsible” service.
This is an absolutely horrible idea. I don’t want to walk dow the hall to tell little Timmy to take out the trash so I put it on a web app. If a kid is young enough to be earning an allowance then they are living at home and the family needs to develop channels of communication that dont include IM or cell phones. If these families can’t discuss chores they sure as hell wont be able to discuss drugs, sex, or other important items us quaint little Family 1.0 types discussed.
We should take this to the next level. How about an online teen sex apps so when the kids get an STD or pregnant mommy and daddy can be alerted by email, SMS, or IM!
Face to face communication is for Luddites.
Credit Cards For Kids: Get Them Started Early & Have A Customer For Life
I have two kids, 8 and 17, and i reccomend PAYjr. My daughter has the card and my son uses the chore/ allowance system and so far both have worked out great. Its funny everyone says such negative things when ultimatly its producing positive habits for kids. My daughter is about to go to college, and we all know credit cards also pop up around this time. At least i know she has some experience with plastic and has been taught how to budget by both me and PAYjr.
I think some people actually need to read the benefits and facts before they go off insulting a product that is not only trying to HELP teens learn financial responsibility, but is giving them “safe” tools to do so. Go ahead, let your kids go off to college and rack up the debt. Then you will be wishing something like payjr was around to have taught them about how to budget. Be realistic, wouldnt you think this was a cool way to learn about money if you were a teen? Its gonna happen, teens are going to get a credit card, so why not try to provide any means possible to eliminte their chances of debt??I mean it kills 2 birds with one stone, paying kids for chores and teaching them how to keep track and have responsibilities? Dumb people anger me…
Using PAYjr as an additional resource to talking to your children is an incredible idea. It should not replace, or diminish, the need to talk to your children. However, it can be used to facilitate those discussions. In this day and age of online applications, it makes complete sense to leverage it to further our childrens knowledge – especially in the area of finances, which is often neglected by parents. As soon as my children are old enough, I will definitely use it.
I agree with Melanie and Marc… the prepaid card is a great way to teach your kids how to use plastic responsibly… yes there are fees, but have you ever had your child encounter overdraft fees from their “free” bank account – they can be quite large sums and are not there to help kids learn how to budget their money. Also – the online chore system shouldn’t replace communication, just make chores more fun. Kids are interested by technology and this helps parents communicate about chores. Could you put it on the fridge – of course you can, but it is not as engaging. The way of the future is paying for everything via your card, online or even your mobile phone… so kids should be well versed in how to use these technologies. I’m pretty sure having your kids check their chores online won’t stop you from having family vacation … and if it does then you have bigger issues.
“You can try The PAYjr Prepaid MasterCard for the low price of $4.95 as a one-time fee and $.50 per load to the card. If you choose to continue using The PAYjr Prepaid MasterCard, there will be a small monthly fee of $2.95.”
First, prepaid cards and credit cards are totally different financial instruments so saying that giving them the former helps them be responsible with the latter, because they are both “plastic”, is nonsense. Second, prepaid cards have significantly more fees associated with them versus plain old cash, as the above indicates.
Although having a web-based tool for organizing and communicating household chores for children seems of minimal value and rather impersonal, it is harmless. What irks me about this service is that its real purpose is to sell prepaid cards, and prepaid cards are a rip-off.
So here is something that is not here, a TEENS comment. I have a payjr card and can easily see how its helped me out. With cash i was more tempted to spend it, and with cash it was MUCH easier to loose. I dont do the chore part because im 16, but i do get allowances every two weeks electronically and love it. For example, im going to florida to visit my family this weekend and this is a good way for my mom to transfer money easily and i get my allowance mondays and being out of town wont mess up my allowance schedual. If i didnt have a payjr card, then i wouldnt be able to do this because you have to be 17 to get a card at my bank. anyways, this card is actually pretty cool and i love the custom cards!
The less my mom and dad know about where I spend my cash the better. Do I take that $$ knowing they can see where I spent it?
Tough call.
Good luck getting me to do chores, but if the money’s there, I’m probly spending it.
ummmm. WTF? Ever so much more convenient than the fridge, bathroom mirror, noteboard, corkboard. JI above encapsulating 2nd issue. Prepaid debit card may or may not be good thing. How much does Payjr charge for those pesky lil oversites by cardholder??
Perhaps in addition to normal cash in kids hand which could be good hands on experience at financial cards. At some age they can find paying tasks. Not too make any particular point as “I was born a well off white child.” My first income was from caddying at neighborhood country club when nearly 10. Took over janitorial service for a 5 dentist office in 7th grade and kept that until end of Bellarmine.
This is in response to your article regarding PayJr. There is always a positive and negative way to go about things when it comes to these sort of things. If you decide, as a parent, to stop communication with your child and solely rely on this website to interact with your children then this is not the site for you. However, if you use it as a tool to educate your child, then there should be no harm in this website.
Furthermore, if you do additional research on the site, everything does not have to be calculated through the website. Once you assign the chores to your children you can print out a calendar and that calendar can decorate your refrigerator. Next to each chore is a box that the child can check off when they have completed their task. This is great for children of any age and is a quick, easy way to make sure the chores get done.
Organization is one of the key elements to success. Teaching your child to organize his/her time and to help around the house makes the entire household enjoyable for everyone. An allowance can be connected with each chore that the child completes and this in turn teaches them the value of working and earning money.
The Buxx visa card that can be used in conjunction with this website for children over 13 years of age is a great way to teach your older child the responsibility of using a credit card. It also enables parents a way to track where the money is going and how it is being spent and therefore giving the parent another opportunity to sit down with their child and communicate the value of saving and spending wisely.
This is a fabulous tool for parents if used the right way. It can open up communication with your children and give them some of the tools that they need in order to survive in this challenging world.