With this system, labor credits replace currency as payment for work performed. Residents are not charged for goods or services, but each agrees to contribute 1200 labor credits per year. Unpleasant work has a higher credit value, and thus is not performed over long periods. Residents work an average 28-hour week. In Walden Two, the residents share property in common, enjoy a high standard of living, and spend their leisure time performing Bach's Mass, playing chess, or painting.
Child care is communal and, for the most part, in the hands of child-rearing experts.
The nuclear family does not exist. Ethical and moral conditioning is complete by age 6 and principles of reinforcement are systematically applied in the socialization of the child. For example, partial reinforcement is used to develop frustration tolerance. Beginning at 6 months of age, babies are given toys designed to develop perseverance. In order for a toy to be reinforcing, say, for a music box to play, the infant learns to pull a ring.