By Rachel Puryear

It’s no secret that raising children is expensive, as well as requiring an extraordinary commitment of time and energy for life.

Accordingly, this post is not intended to diminish the sacrifices and love that parents make and give to their kids each day, and often thanklessly.

However, it’s instead intended to shine light on the fact that – contrary to popular belief – children on the whole actually do make important contributions to their families’ ability to earn a living, build wealth, and have financial opportunities; even if it’s mostly indirectly. And that also deserves recognition, rather than dismissiveness.

Let’s explore some of the ways this happens:

Children Provide Caregiving

Children are one of the biggest providers of child and elder care. They typically do this in their own homes, either unpaid or for nominal pay. They also help take care of elders, and other family members in need of care.

This can be a great cost savings for their parents and families, as well as enabling working adults to earn more. This also takes pressure off of working adults when they’re home, after a long work day or week.

If you didn’t provide caregiving as a child, you probably know several people who did.

Children Help With Family Businesses, and More

I know many families with family-owned businesses. I don’t know any family with a business, and with children, where the children do not help out with the family business – at least to some extent.

The (usually) unpaid labor of children is a huge help in the success of family businesses, and this deserves proper recognition – on a lot of levels.

Children Provide Housekeeping

Children collectively do a lot of household chores, errands, and tasks that need doing. Maybe not necessarily cheerfully, or without some nagging from adults, but they still provide a lot of labor and efforts for the benefit of their households.

Children Earn Income, Too – But That’s the Tip of the Iceberg

Of course, there are children who work, and earn income – especially teens and tweens. Some of that income may go to help provide for the family, while some of it may be kept primarily by the minor who earned it. Few of them are primary breadwinners, though.

However, in any event, children’s direct earnings are far outweighed by their indirect, unpaid contributions to their families’ well-being. Nonetheless, the latter is not less valuable for simply being less obvious and less visible.

Feminists Won More Equitable Marital Property Laws Arguing Unpaid Contributions

If the above points seem a little familiar – emphasizing the importance of unpaid contributions to families, and urging these worthy of respect and attributed value – it’s because you have heard it before.

Feminists won more equitable marital property laws – a big improvement from where the men owned and controlled everything, regardless – by arguing the value and importance of women’s unpaid contributions to households. Women and children have done a lot of the same work, and still continue to do the bulk of it today.

Children do not have any such rights around ownership of their family’s wealth and assets, however.

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Thank you, dear readers, for reading, following, and sharing. Here’s to children’s economic contributions.

Check out my other blog, too – World Class Hugs, at https://worldclasshugs.com. It’s about celebrating empathic and HSS/HSP people, balanced versus toxic relationships, loving spirituality and spiritualism without religious dogma, and visiting gorgeous natural places.

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Uncategorized Wealth children family mental-health parenting