Getting children involved in household chores

Getting children involved in helping with household chores can be tiring and challenging, and a chore in itself. However, if you are prepared to help them along and encourage them in the tasks they will soon be loading the dishwasher on their own.

Helping with tasks can give children a good grounding in what it takes to run a house, and how much work it is for you. These everyday chores are a fact of life and learning to do these things is important.

A great idea to get them started would be to cook something yummy, then ask them to help you tidy up whilst the treat is cooking. This way the kids will see the whole process of cooking including tidying up. At the end they will be able to sample their hard work and they will have learnt a thing or two in the process.

There are so many ways that you can get your children excited about things in the house and it may even lead to a new hobby.

Gardening is another good way to help your children learn about household tasks. You could even slip in a biology lesson; you may even learn a thing or two. Growing plants from seeds can be very exciting for children and they will feel a sense of pride as their plant grows and thrives. The best project to start with is growing a sunflower, as they grow quickly and they are very colourful. The sunflower seed should be planted in a well raked composted soil. They should be planted in April and it usually takes about 60 days for the flower to start blooming. The seeds are inexpensive and your children will love charting the progress of the flower.

The next lesson will then be trying to teach them to use a vacuum cleaner to clean up the mud that they have brought into the house from the garden.

I usually use competition-type incentives to get kids started:

• Can you pick up all the flash cards off the floor until I count to 15?
• Can you fold all the sock until this song is over?
• Who can fill up hamper bins with toys faster?

I still have not made up my mind if a tangible incentive (like a chocolate candy) is the right way to motivate kids to do housework. I am afraid if I start such remuneration system, they will always expect a reward for helping out.

Do you think it is acceptable to offer kids sweets if they help clean up the house?

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