Chore Charts
The word chore refers to the regular or light work of a household. As most parents would agree there are two main reasons why you would want your children to help with household chores. The first is simply to get the job done. Sometimes you might just need those extra pair of hands as there always seems to be something else that needs attention when running a household. The other reason is to help your child learn basic life skills and personal responsibility. There are a few things to consider when it comes to your kids and chores. Setting age appropriate chores, discussing rewards for good behaviour, creating chore charts and deciding whether to pay your child an allowance for completing chores all need consideration.
When assigning chores to your children it is important to make sure that they are appropriate to their skills and abilities as well as your needs. From the age of about 2 to 3 years old your kids can put toys away, clean up messes and help make the bed. Children aged 4 and 5 often find helping out enjoyable and will be quite excited to learn a new job. They tend also to find rewards such as stickers on a chore chart very rewarding and can manage simple chores unsupervised. Those children in the 6 to 10 year old bracket have a desire to be independent so their chores need to reflect this, while older children can handle more responsibility and will respond well to being directly involved in the ownership of certain jobs.
Chores are opportunities for your children to participate in family life, develop self-esteem as well as learn important life lessons. With that in mind there are several things you can do as a parent to make your family chores an enjoyable and educational experience. The first is to do chores with your children. This lets kids know that everyone has to do chores and that it is expected that all family members will help with them. The second is to have a positive attitude when performing your own chores. Your children are watching you all the time and learn a great deal more from what you do than what you say. Lastly, it is recommended to help your children develop a routine for their chores. Help them organize a set time of day when certain jobs should be done and perhaps create a chore chart so that they can see what needs doing and are able to tick of their chores as they finish them.
Allowances and chores can be a contentious issue. Some parents believe that their kids should not be paid for helping out around the house, while others will pay their children for each chore done. A better solution is to simply divide household chores into two groups. The first group is for those chores that are part of keeping the household running such as making the bed and doing the dishes. The second group are for those chores that take extra time and effort such as mowing the lawn or washing the car. By paying only for chores in the second group you can teach your children that they are expected to help out with normal family responsibilities but that they may also be rewarded for putting in extra time and effort on larger jobs.
Every parent wants their child to develop skills that will help them be a successful, motivated and happy person. Family chores are a great opportunity to do just that. It is worthwhile spending some time finding some appropriate chores that your child can accomplish no matter how old they are.