Now that my 4 year old is mature enough to handle money and grasp the concept of it, we let her keep her loot from her Chinese New Year red envelopes. A total of $60. Instead of putting it in the bank account, I gave her the two $20 dollar and two $10 dollar bills. I told her that we can go on amazon.com and pick out whatever she wants that her $60 can buy her. She loved that idea. She joyfully picked out Play-Doh, Crayola water color, and a crayon melting contraption. With tax and shipping, she is now left with $5. Not enough to buy anything else.
So, my teachable mommy-self steps in. I said, "you can earn more money by working". My little girl asked, "what's work?"
Hmm.... what is work? I wake up early, take the train to the big city, sit in a cube in front of several computers, write email, look at data, talk to people on the phone, but those things mean nothing to a 4 year old.
So, here's work that will get her paid, defined to a 4 year old, "something you do for someone else that you normally would not do".
such as:
1 - help feed your baby sister
2 - clean the cats' litter boxes
3 - clean up after your baby sister
4 - help shovel the snow
5 - make sure the cats have fresh water in their water bowls
work that will not get her paid:
1 - clean up after yourself
2 - feeding yourself
3 - hugging your sister
4 - be nice to people
So far so good. Now I just need to define how much her jobs should be paid.