Getting your kids to help out around the house is one of the most annoying parts of parenthood. However, if you get your little ones into good routines from a young age, you’ll save yourself heaps of trouble when it comes to keeping your home in tip top shape. Here are a couple of ways you can inspire your kids to do household chores (and not complain about it)!
1) Make Chores Into A Game
Jett Hovell from Fantastic Cleaners Sydney suggests making chores into a game when it comes to getting little ones excited about helping out:
“Kids are competitive as hell. If you make cleaning the house a competition it's going to make them do it. One cool way that I've found works 90/100 times is seeing who can clean a given room as fast as possible. The winner gets the prize of course!”
Ignite your child’s competitive spirit! For more great ideas, check out Fantastic Cleaner’s Facebook page!
2) Encourage A Supportive Family Culture
Elisabeth Stitt explains why having a close knit family is important, so as to keep your kids enthused about helping around home:
“I inspire kids to do chores by setting up a strong family culture. I create a warm, connected family that is fun to be a part of--with rituals of sharing, caring and activities together. I reinforce messages like, "In our family we support each other." This includes cheering each other on at games and clapping wildly at piano recitals. It also includes working together on household chores. We list out all the chores and divide what needs to get done among all the family members.”
For more awesome advice from Elisabeth, check out her website and Facebook page!
3) Make Work Fun
Khanh Nguyen from the team at Houzz, suggests making chores a whole heap of fun, so that they seem like play rather than work:
“Children love to play at being grown-ups and they naturally play-act the chores they see us do. So start early and get them to help out with those real chores, just make it fun along the way. Start in the kitchen, which is one of the most creative places for housework, where they may actually enjoy doing the real thing. Play music, have a laugh and, at least initially, allow them to make the things they like to eat – sweet or savoury”
Before you know it, your kids will be excited about making their beds or helping in the kitchen. For more information from Houzz, check them out on Facebook!
4) A Little Incentive
Eugenie Pepper from Plum Collections shares why a little incentive isn’t such a bad thing when it comes to getting kids in the habit of getting their chores done. She shares her experience with her two little ones:
“When they were younger I got 2 jars labelled with their names and every time they did something I would put a piece of pasta in the jar and when the jar was full they would get a gift. This worked for a while but now they are older they have lost interest and are only interested in cash. I pay them pocket money up to $5 per week depending on how helpful they have been.
Since we started with the pocket money my son’s room is immaculate and he has even started to fold his own laundry and put it away. However, my daughter’s room is still a mess although she loves helping me in the kitchen to prepare dinner and set the table.”
For more tips and tricks from Eugenie, find her on Facebook! Incentives never fair when it comes to encouraging little ones to pick up a new habit. Buy your child a doll when they’ve ticked off all their chores for the week. Inflatable water slides make a great gift as well, and get the kids out of the house to run off their pent up energy after finishing up their duties.
Working towards incentives is also a great way to teach your child resilience and hard work to reap rewards, as Claire Orange from Best Programs 4 Kidz shares with us:
“A great way to build resilience and the life skills necessary to managing the requirements of a workplace one day. In family well-being, this is one of the most important aspects of getting the child parent balance right. In fact, it’s part of teaching children how to save their money one day... Really! The child who does chores in order to get a reward is learning to waiting, to bank a bunch of behaviours that lead to a result - by saving up those good behaviours.”
To hear more from Claire, check out her company on Facebook!
So there you have it - a few great ways to inspire your children towards being helpful around the home. It’ll teach them some great life skills and lessen the burden of housework for mum and dad as well! Never underestimate the benefits of getting kids to help out at home!
