In many families, getting your kids to help with chores can be a real struggle. Especially if this is something new that you’re just starting to implement, you might be finding that your kids are really pushing back against doing their chores when you want them to be done or in an effective manner. Luckily, this a little patience and planning, you can find ways to help your kids take on more responsibility at home and help take care of the home you all live in together. To show you how this can be done, here are three ways to encourage your kids to pitch in more around the house.
Make It A Routine
As was mentioned above, if you’re trying to get your kids to learn how to do chores at an older age, it can be a struggle to know how to instill these habits. One thing you might want to try, according to James Lehman, a contributor to Empowering Parents, is to create some type of a routine that you’ll follow every day or every week. This might include having each member of your family work on their chores in the morning before work or school, in the evening right before dinner, or on the weekend when things are more relaxed for your schedules. Whatever you choose, just make sure you stick to it so your kids come to expect that they’ll be required to help around the house at this time.
Get Your Work Done Together
While doing chores at the same time can be helpful for encouraging your kids to get their individual tasks done, Michaeleen Doucleff, a contributor to NPR, shares that it can also be helpful to get your work done together whenever possible. By working on the same task as a group, be it fixing a fence on your property or doing laundry together, you’ll not only be able to ensure that everyone is helping in getting things done around your house, but you’ll also be able to spend some quality time together as you work toward accomplishing a common goal.
Create Consequences And Stick To Them
When you’re still in the beginning stages of instituting chores among your kids, you might have to resort to giving your children some consequences if they fail to take on their responsibilities or do their jobs as you’ve directed. If you do have to create some negative consequences for your kids when they don’t do their chores, Sarah Aguirre, a contributor to The Spruce, recommends that you try to make them a natural consequence regarding the chore they didn’t do and that you ensure that you always stick to that consequence. For example, if your kids don’t put their dirty clothes in their hamper, you don’t wash their clothes for them and they won’t have clean clothes to wear.
If you’re having a hard time getting your kids to do their chores, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you create some new habits that will make these tasks easier to get done.