Children and Chores

Many parents require their children to do chores around the house. For some families, the process of teaching children what to do and how to do it is an easy one. In other families, getting children to do chores regularly and completely can be a problem.

It is a good idea for parents to teach their children at an early age that all family members must work together to make the household run, and that each person must do his or her share of the work load. This can be done by beginning a program of chores and responsibilities when children are young.

Chores are beneficial for children? even very young ones. Being responsible for doing chores teaches children many important skills such as cooperation and responsibility. Chores also teach children about fairness and commitment. The skills and values learned by doing chores will benefit children throughout their lives.

What To Do

There are many things that parents can do to encourage their children to do household chores. Here are some suggestions:

Start early. Parents should start giving their children household responsibilities when they are young. Most toddlers love to help their parents. Parents should take advantage of this desire and give their children small and simple tasks. As children get older, they should then be given more challenging tasks.

Show how to do the chore. Children need to know exactly what's expected of them. Therefore, it is a good idea for parents to make sure their children know exactly what their duties are. Parents should thoroughly go over the duties required, and should actually show their children how to do the chore at hand. It might also be a good idea to write down and post all duties that make up a single chore for children's reference. At first, parents should monitor their children to make sure things are going well. Parents can reduce monitoring once children know how to do the chore.

Teach one chore at a time. It is probably a good idea for parents to thoroughly teach their children how to do one chore, and then to make sure that they are consistently doing it correctly before moving on to other chores. Young children can become confused when they are required to learn too much at one time.

Break down the chore into small parts. When teaching chores, parents should break each one down into small parts. For example, instead of telling a child to clean his bedroom and leaving it at that, parents should list all of the things that make up the chore of cleaning the bedroom, for example, changing the sheets, picking up toys and putting them away, dusting the dresser, and vacuuming. Parents should then show their children how to do each part of the chore correctly.

Explain. Children need to know why pitching in and helping is important. Parents should explain that doing chores benefits the whole family, and that every person must do his or her part to keep things going smoothly.

Change the nature of chores as children grow. As children grow, they can be given more and more challenging chores. Most parents have a good idea of what their children are and are not able to do. Therefore, parents should make sure that the chores they give their children are appropriate to their children's ages and abilities.