Getting kids to their chores isn’t always easy. As kids fill up their days with school work and activities, making sure your child stays on task and completes chores can take some planning – and strategy.
A survey of 1,001 U.S. adults by Braun Research last year found while 82 percent of adults had chores as children, only 28 percent of adults make their kids do chores.
Here are some tips from Gregg Murset, Founder & CEO of MyJobChart.com for encouraging your children to do their chores and (do so without complaining) :
1. Connect Helping Around the House with a Special Day or Additional Activity Time … Sometimes all a child wants is some special time with mom and dad, maybe a trip to the zoo, to see a movie or to go out to eat at a favorite restaurant. Have a standing arrangement that every week or month, if assigned tasks are completed properly, you will grant them one wish to do something.
2. Go on Strike … If you give your children something to do and they skip out on it, do not do it for them. Even the most stubborn teen will take notice when they run out of clean laundry.
3. Allow Help … During a school break or on a long weekend give your kids a large project to complete and let them invite friends over to help. While painting the backyard fence or shoveling mulch for the yard might not sound fun to you it could be a blast for a group of kids. Especially if you offer to host a pizza party after the work is done.
4. Create Trades … Competition runs rampant between siblings so take advantage of it. If one of your kids is assigned a task and he/she doesn't want to complete it, allow for trades between kids. The child who wants to trade his/her task can give up the reward tied to that chore to a sibling in exchange for the sibling doing it. If one sibling is willing to put in all the effort, the others will quickly take notice and want to contribute when they are not getting any of the rewards.
5. Let Kids Earn Money to Support A Special Charity They Pick … Help your child find a charity or cause they want to support, and tell them by finishing tasks around the house, the money they earn will go as a donation. The donation could be made once a year, every month or every week, depending on your child, but if they can see how their hard work helps animals, another child or to help find a cure, they will be more engaged
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