Keeping up with chores around the house, especially in the midst of day-to-day life, can be difficult. More specifically, when you’re cleaning up, around, and underneath children. Your chore list just seems to be a giant dragon you have to fight each day. But you don’t have to do it alone! Getting your kids to help around the house isn’t always easy, but we have some tips for making chore charts and ensuring that you and your kids triumph over that chore dragon!
Before we get into the nitty-gritty, we should clarify. This post is in no way suggesting that these methods are guaranteed, or that you’re wrong for doing something different. You do what’s best for your child, and what works for your family! Everyone is different. We’re just here to throw some ideas and information your way.
According to Pathways.org, kids can start helping with small tasks and chores as young as two years old! Providing guidance with small tasks like putting their toys away and doing chores with them actually positively impacts their development. By age 5, kids can be given a little more independence with chores. Not all children are the same, so certain milestones might happen earlier or later, and certain techniques or games might not be as effective. Don’t beat yourself up, just find what works best and go with that!
Once kids are over 6 years old, you can begin thinking about chore charts for them to follow! You can see the rough guidelines for what chores work for what ages here. There’s multiple ways to organize household tasks. You can get creative and make your own chart, print one out, or use kid-friendly crafts like making a bouquet of flowers with chores as the individual flowers. There’s plenty of creative ways to make chore charts, for kids of all ages. Pinterest is a great resource for things like this, especially for younger children.
Once you choose the chores you want your children to do, and have made them a chart, next comes the challenging part; getting your child to keep up with the list. Here are some ways to help keep your kid consistent with tasks.
- Visibility – Keep the chart where it can be easily seen! Just like you forget things when you don’t see them, so do your kids. Putting the chore responsibilities in areas like the kitchen are ideal!
- Guidance – Show your family how to do the chores you’re asking them to complete.
- Patience – It’s not always going to be perfect. And the first few times your child tries to do a task there may be some bumps in the road.
- Praise – When they do a task correctly, or complete all their tasks without being asked, commend them! Positive reinforcement increases the likelihood that they’ll complete the tasks again.
- Know Your Kid – Take into account your child’s feeling, interest, temperament, and ability
- When/Than – “When you *do this chore*, then you can go over your friends.”
Getting your kids involved with chores is a great way to teach them responsibility, while also giving you a hand. For all your other cleaning needs, trust the girls in green! Call Kathleen’s Cleaning service today to schedule your next cleaning!