Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Are Chores Worth the Hassle With Kids?

The ultimate dream: a clean house. Keeping a house clean is hard work with all the toys, snacks, and clothes that land on the ground daily and all of the activities and meals that moms are in charge of. Cleaning can be intimidating if mom is the only one working, and eventually she will end up feeling like a maid. If only there were little helpers around so mom didn’t have so much work… Oh wait! That’s what kids are for! Even toddlers can do simple chores to help keep the house tidy.

Organizing chores can seem difficult. Training kids can seem daunting. Is it worth spending time to train them? The majority of adults feel this way. In a survey conducted by Braun Research, 82 percent of parents did chores growing up, but only 28 percent report implementing chores with their own kids. Let’s get that percentage up! Kids will learn self-control and feel a sense of accomplishment as they grow and learn how to complete the new tasks they are given. Parents will enjoy a clean (if only slightly at first) house. And the entire family will have more time together! Here are some tips to make chores a good experience for parents and kids:

1.   Be Specific
Chore charts or established rules will help them to know when and what to do. “I’ll do it later” is a lot less productive than “family kitchen clean-up after dinner” or “Saturday morning, time to tidy our rooms.” Pick a time and assign some chores, daily, weekly, monthly, whatever it may be. If everyone has a couple of jobs, then it will be quick and painless for everyone. There are some chore chart ideas on our Pinterest as well as a few on the first link below the article.

2.   Encouraging Phrases
What if they wipe down a table and it looks just as dirty? What if after cleaning the mirror it is covered in streaks? What if thoughts of “I’ll just do it by myself” start creeping in? Don’t give up! Try phrases like “You’re getting better at cleaning every week!” “Thanks for helping me today” “Next time let’s do it this way” or more specific “Next time let’s make sure to sweep the corners too!” They’ll be more inclined to assist if they know how much you appreciate their help.

3.   Clean bedrooms and rooms that everyone uses
Chores in the bedroom will teach personal responsibility whereas chores in other rooms will help eliminate the “but I didn’t make the mess” excuse. Everybody has to make an effort for a household to run smoothly. Certain messes may need to be cleaned up by certain children, but sometimes in life we just get to clean up after others’ messes. It’s much easier when we’re not alone.

4.   Make It Fun
If Saturday morning cleaning is getting a little mundane, try mixing it up. Put on some cleaning music! Take a lemonade break! Have a cleaning race! Take turns being the cleaning inspector! Come up with some cleaning games of your own! To quote Mary Poppins on the subject: “In every job that must be done there is an element of fun, you find the fun and snap! The job’s a game.”

A clean house and hard-working kids are in your future! You can do it! For more information see the links below.




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