Every parent dreams to raise kids that are responsible and accountable for their life. One of the best ways to learn this traits is by starting household chores in a young age. However, it’s not a simple “ask, do, and become a habit” process. It is natural and normal to be physically lazy as a human being, so as our kids. So, we have created 7 ways for parents, to make the chores teaching process effective and fun for kids. Moreover, it helps the kids develop their ownership and responsibility. Eventually, it became a habit for them. Hope it works for your family as well!
Related Reading:
- 8 Best Positive and Gentle Parenting Books for Toddlers’ Parents
- 14 Toy Organization and Storage Ideas for Kid’s Room
- 7 Classic Discipline Strategy That Still Work (on primary school kids)
- 7 Old-fashioned Discipline Techniques You Should Avoid At All (on primary school kids)
Table of Contents
1. Hold a “Chores Challenge Week”
It is a family challenge game to teaching kids to do chores, if everyone can finish their assigned chores, you can use the saved time for other activities, such as family movie or outing, or they can choose a small rewards e.g. an extra 20 min TV time or a small toy. In the meanwhile, you can also prepare a small “thank you” note to your kids, tell them how much appreciation you had for them because their effort.
All you need to do is discussing with kids their chore list and post it on a wall. Then, for every chore they finish, they can put a sticker on it. Then you had an overview of the progress.
There are many discussions on the age-appropriate chores. My personal experience is separate the “must to do” and “nice to do”. “Must to do” is related with their own room and hygiene. The “nice to do” is aim to help parents and family space.
2. Use Chore Cards to Say “Thank you”
Draw pictures of the tasks on cardboard is a great way of teaching kids to do chores. This is mainly for the “family chore” or more challenge chore for the kids age. Any of the task they finished, they can give back the cards and parents need to say “thank you”. Then you sing a song together or play a game together.
Remember, when you say “thank you”, look at their eyes and express your appreciation and proud.
3. Switch Roles for one Hour
Another fun way of teaching your kids to do chores is to do a role play. You can pretend to be the kids and they are the parents for one hour. During the hour, you can repeat some of the kids behaviors and they need to regulate you as parents. “mom, I am hungry”, “dad, I want to go to toilet”, “oops, my pants are wet” etc.
I am sure that you are going to enjoy this hour and see how are the kids reaction. They are reflecting exactly you are doing. In the end of the hour, they will understand a little bit how parents are taking care of the family.
4. Use Music to Counting Chores
Set up a “clean up” music, while the music is on, the chore time started. For example, it takes one song to put back all the toys, another song to fold clothes. The music can also works as a timer, to see how long it takes to finish a chore. When the work gets too much, you can say time is up and we move to the next chore.
5. Switch Room Cleaning
Everyone is responsible for their own bedroom in our house. Sometimes we ask the kids to clean our bedroom and we offer the same service for them. They are so exciting to put all the clothes back to the closet and sometimes, they put the clothes on themselves and end up in a mess. However, it does not matter as long as they tide them up.
After the clean up, you can be each other’s inspector. Kids also get the chance to inspect your cleaning on their bedroom.
Whoever is assigned as the inspector for that day will have to bring with them a laundry basket. This laundry basket serves as the jail for all the clutter one sees. If you want to internalize the role further, you can use a toy police badge that you’ll find on dress-up kits.
Of course, everyone is given enough time to finish their chores. You can even set a time limit so all of the kids (or including you) start at the same time. Once the time’s up, the inspector will then proceed with his rounds.
6. Encourage Kids to Start a business
If you have energetic kids and also interested in earning money, this is definitely a good opportunity for teaching kids to do chores!
The idea came from a book “a dog named money”, it is about an 11-year-old girl Kira and her dog who can teach kids and adults how to earn and manage money. Kira’s first step is to walk her neighbors’ dog.
Last week, my kids started their restaurant and run completely independent, from make smoothie to boil the noodles. It is a very simple dinner but it is the first dinner that we, parents do not have to do anything but enjoying a dinner. In the end, you will be amazed about how much and professional kids can do.
7. Shoot a Cleaning Advertisement
If you have creative and techy children, why not let them make a fun cleaning advertisement? It might sound like another school project, but it is a unique way of getting your children engaged with the task.
Don’t worry much if your kids are quite shy. This is a great way for them to gain more confidence with you as their audience. For the more extroverted kids, they’ll love having the camera trained on them.
For starters, go back to the chore charts or chore cards that you have assigned for each child. Then, whatever chore they’re assigned to do, ask them to show the proper way of doing it.
If you want to add more fun to this already cool activity, have the kids gather all the cleaning materials available. Then, tell them to show your “audience” how to properly use them. Or, you can make a twist and ask them to use them funnily. Once the videos are ready, you can send them out to your family’s group chat. For sure everyone in the family will like them.
The best part is, you are able to make more memories with your kids without having to bribe them. You were able to enter their world while they get to understand the chores you need them to do.
Remember, Work With Your Kids as a Team!
There you have it! The 7 best ways of teaching your kids do chores in fun and effective means. Just take your pick and see what method works for your children.
If you’re out of ideas to make your children clean without nagging, incorporate some of the 25 family games that you can play together with your kids. The important thing is you get creative enough to keep them interested in this very mundane work.
But, no matter what cleaning game you end up playing, the best method is to work with your kids. No matter how old they get, kids will always look up to their parents for the right thing to do. Plus, you get to show them by action how teamwork works.
After all, if you can’t get them to do the work, joining them instead is the best way to convince them.
Also, don’t forget to switch roles with your kids at times as well. Have them choose what cleaning song they want to play while sweeping. You can even have them in charge of assigning the chores for each member of the family — including you!
If you’re not sure what chores to assign your kids, read up on AACAP’s list of age-appropriate chores. And, to help make household chores a routine in your home, check out Pick the Brain’s top 10 ways to make cleaning a habit.
So, now that you know all these things, stop reading and go get the family to clean up the house now and have fun!
About me
Hi, there. I am Lin. Together with my husband and two kids, we live in the beautiful Netherlands in Europe. I am dedicated to self-development, creating quality time for the whole family, and fully supporting kids with their potentials with all I have learned from engineering, MBA, and 10+ years of working experience in the energy sector.
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