Getting teenagers to do any work around the house can be quite a mission, unless you resort to draconian measures and spankings. But there are ways, some more effective than others, to get them to work voluntarily. And it's a fact that a volunteer is worth 10 pressed men.

As parents of teenagers are aware, teenagers have strong desires to own expensive gadgets and clothes, which the struggling parents usually cannot afford. The richer you are, the more expensive these gadgets become. But this teenage desire is a power source that we parents can tap into. Keep your ears open for what the kids want: it may be a Nintendo Wii, or expensive Name brand jeans, or an iPhone. (OK, OK, or a Porsche.) Then talk about this thing a lot, saying how wonderful it is, and that kids really like it, and so on, until your teenager is really drooling. Then introduce the following scheme.

Instead of giving the kids an allowance, or pocket money, which is basically money paid to them for doing nothing, rather scrap the allowance altogether and institute a new system of "pay as you go" wages. Draw up a list of jobs that you want the kids to do around the house every day and every week. Things like draw the curtains, make coffee/tea, wash dishes/unpack dishwasher, wash the car, vacuum the car, cut the grass, feed the animals, water the pot plants, empty the garbage, bring in the washing, and whatever else ytou can think of.

Then allocate a "wage" for each item: how much you are willing to pay them to do each job. Be careful here that you don't bankrupt yourself - add all the amounts up to see how much it will come to in a month! Small, easy jobs will get a small amount, and jobs like cutting the lawn will get larger amounts.

Print out a blank table where the kids can fill in the date, what job was done and the amount to be paid, with a place where you can sign next to each job to confirm that it was actually done. No signature, no pay.

So if the kids want their allowance, they have to work proportionately for it. If they work harder (or smarter) they can get paid more. This has the benefit of taking the burden of getting the kids to do their chores off the parent and makes it the teenagers responsibility. And once they realise that their iPhone will be in their sweaty little palms a lot sooner if they work harder, the jobs soon get done.

Another hidden factor here is that it instills a work ethic in the kids . The soon realise that one has to work for what one wants, that nice, shiny things don't just fall out of the sky into their laps, but they have to be worked for. And because of this they appreciate what they have a lot more. They treat their belongings with care, because that possession cost them a lot of sweat and energy and sacrifice.

We have been amazed to see our kids slaving away in the hot sun, vacuuming the car, cleaning patio furniture, brushing cats and taking out dustbins - jobs we usually wound up doing ourselves before the introduction of this system.

So it does work. Bit more expensive than an allowance, but at least you get your money's worth, in more ways than one!