Getting your child to help with chores can teach her valuable skills and important values. It can assist with the development of responsibility, self-reliance and organisational skills. It can also help with promoting interpersonal skills, including talking clearly, negotiating, cooperating, and working together as a team.
But getting your little one to help around the house can be a challenge. We’re all familiar with the sentence: ‘I’ll do it later!’ With distractions such as the TV, a mobile device or a room full of toys, it can be a tricky task. And unfortunately, there are no quick fixes you can employ to get your child to do anything. But there are a few practical (and even fun!) steps you can take to motivate and get your kid to help with chores. Let’s explore:
Tips to get your child to help around the house
- Assign times to chores
Remember how your parents used to count down to get you to get dressed or get in bed? It’s the easiest and simplest way to get kids to act quickly. Setting small deadlines for your child’s duties is also a great way for her to learn about time management.
- Work together
Chores can be fun. And if you work in a team, your little one will quickly find out how fast chores can be done when you help each other. However, it is important to give your kid enough freedom to be creative in finding ways to do tasks on her own too.
- Be firm and consistent
It’s important for your child to understand that participating in household chores is not an option. She must know that everyone in the household participates in chores. Be firm in your directions but don’t get into an argument. If your child won’t budge, rather take some time out and approach your child again when you are both calm.
- Use positive reinforcement
Kids thrive on reinforcement. However, that doesn’t mean you should offer them gifts in exchange for doing chores. It simply means that basic acts such as praising your child’s efforts can motivate her to do her chores.
- Avoid using chores as punishment
When your child misbehaves, punishing her with a chore will only learn her to dislike helping around the house. Your objective is to teach your child to become responsible by doing chores and not view them as punishment.
- Make it fun
Cleaning and organising can also be tedious tasks for you as a parent. To add an element of fun, you can put on your and your child’s favourite music or play a fun memory game while you work. It’s an easy way to get going in an enjoyable way.
Get your kid to help with chores: changing habits
Getting kids to help with chores isn’t always easy. More often than not, these attempts are met with some form of resistance. But if you start early and implement some of the tips mentioned above, you can slowly but surely get your child in the habit of helping around the house. It’s all about promoting good and healthy habits that your child can learn from. Try one step at a time and see how easy it gets!