One thing to consider is the kids' attitudes. Do they actually appreciate what they're getting? Or, when approached for payment, do you get whine and jeez (minor grumping ok). Some kids will be better off being cut off so they can better understand the gift they no longer have. Others are good at adulting.
Yeah. Older child is glad to have what he does, younger is a teacher, and has a large amount of pent up angst based on what incomes other people make.
Blows my mind. I run a contracting business/fab shop and hired (paid) the younger one for part of a summer. I made him get up with me at 5:00 and ride to work, just to see how it was done, what you had to do, what you had to deal with, and how you had to manage it. But, since he was my kid my shop supervisor wouldn't tell me when he was just screwing around and hiding.
Went and looked for him one day and he was laying in the shade of an air conditioner he was supposed to be cutting up with a sawzall for scrap recycle, playing with his phone, instead. I had to have other guys dismantle the machine for recycle. Kind of had to grab him by the ear and drag him away from his hide, and I cut his employment with me shorter than he or my wife wanted.
He knows I won't intentionally re-hire him (unless mom dictates such), and I am bothered by this, but his unwillingness to deal with what it takes for stuff to get done really makes me sad.
Probably bad counsel on my part.
The double mind blow part is that he has no desire to run a business that has the potential to make him very well off, (family counsel and financial guardrails would be provided). He's happier complaining.