I used to think that I was the only person to notice the mess in our house. The kids were oblivious to it and I would have to nag them and shout to get them to help with the tidying and cleaning, even if it was their own mess. Thankfully over the years they have got better at helping around the house and the nagging has just about stopped.
These are some ideas how you can encourage your children to help around the house.
Start them young.
If they are old enough to get toys out they are old enough to learn how to put them away. It’s never too soon to start teaching them how to tidy up their toys or get them to walk around with a duster. There are plenty of pretend cleaning toys like hoovers and sweeping brushes. Make cleaning part of their life from a young age.
Start small!
Give the kids easy jobs to start with, nothing that takes any great skill but when they have completed the task you can heap the praise on them.
Give them choices!
Do they want to do the dusting or hoovering? Washing or drying the dishes? Give them a choice and it will make them feel like they are in control.
Make a to-do list!
Everyone likes ticking off something they have achieved and kids are no different. It makes them feel like they are accomplishing something and gives them the goal of getting the whole list completed.
Take it in turns!
If you have multiple children rotate their chores regularly so they don’t get bored of doing the same job. My girls always used to prefer what the other was doing so they would often swap jobs and they felt like they had got one over on the other.
Accept jobs won't be done perfectly!
Sometimes when children are learning they will not do a job to the standard that an adult would, accept it! They are just learning. Again heap on the praise and be positive that they tried.
Work together!
Doing the housework together as a family can be fun. I like to put some music on, on a Saturday morning and we all have a good giggle while we're dancing about getting the cleaning done.
Give them pocket money!
As children get older you could think about giving them pocket money in exchange for helping around the house. Some people feel that they should muck in and help as they are part of the household but paying for chores is a good way of motivating tweens and teenagers.
Create a rota!
It will help stop arguments about who is doing what and when they are doing it.
Don't give chores as punishments!
If you hand out cleaning tasks as a punishment children will start to associate chores with something negative and will hate to do them instead of just accepting them as part of every day life.
Do your kids help around the house? Do they enjoy it?
My kids don't enjoy it but they do help out around the house; a lot. I once explained to them too that I was helping them learn (in small steps) all these jobs that they'd need to be doing in their own house one day too.
ReplyDeleteGreat tips! Jayden helps around the house with a bit of coaxing from me. Pocket money always works! x
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