Getting Kids Help Around the House

Let’s face it, we are all lazy. If we don’t HAVE to do something, we probably won’t do it. We would all rather have someone else do a chore for us than have to do it ourselves. Kids are no different, but getting kids help does not have to be hard.

Knowing how to get kids help with chores and household work can be a challenge sometimes. Use the right training and mindset and this task will get done. Who wouldn’t love their house to be run like a well oiled machine? Here are some tips on making your house run smoother.

Tips on Getting Kids Help with What Needs to Be Done

1. Order their day – Whether you homeschool your children or not, everyone has to get up, get themselves ready, eat, do their work, and have free time. The key to getting kids help is to help them develop good habits. Children will continue to do what you allow. If you let them get up and never clean up after themselves, they will continue to do that.We are all motivated by different things. Some children like to have a neat place to work and others would rather not bother with keeping an area clean. For those that don’t care, you will have to set up a system for helping them learn to care. If they leave their clothes laying around, you can take those clothes away for a week. If those clothes are important to them, they will not do that again. In our house, free time activities like playing on the computer, going outside, working on a fun project are all put on hold until all required work has been done. If they are found doing a fun activity before required activities are done, they are given a verbal warning. If this happens more often, then consequences are enforced to help get the child’s attention the next time.The key is to ordering things so that they are motivated to do the good and not do the bad. If they leave their dishes and food all over the kitchen, then a good consequence would be to not let them have snacks for a while. Find out what motivates your child and then order things so that they will be motivated to clean up after themselves. It might seem harsh at first to take away a major privilege, but if the consequence is strict enough, you will only have to do this once or twice.If you enjoy yelling at your kids for every little thing and not making the consequences strong enough to motivate them into good action, then you will probably be yelling at them for the same things for many years to come. The choice is yours.
2. Help them feel like a contributor – Write down all the chores that someone in the family needs to do. Then mark down the person that does each of these chores. This will help them see that they don’t do as much as their parents. They will see family chores written down in black and white. This will help them understand how they need to contribute to the family.  Explain to your children that you are a family and that you share the load of the chores in the house. They don’t see one child in school carrying 10 backpacks for all the other children. No, everyone carries their own load. The same thing should happen at home. When children feel loved and wanted, their self esteem and confidence grows.We all enjoy being part of a great team. Help your children understand that they are loved and appreciated. Then teach them that their team (family) needs them to work to help the team run smoothly.
3.  Use a Chore Card – I have used a chore card when I was training my kids to do a chore without complaining. Charts didn’t work for us but this did. You can download what I use here. When they complete their task without complaining, they get a check mark. When they accumulate a certain number of check marks, they get to do or have something special. Will you have to use a chore card forever? No, the object is to develop a habit. The chore chart I use will help develop that chore until it is a habit. You can use it for another habit after that. Therefore it will help build the child up and get the work done that needs to be done.

Parents CAN help their children learn to work happily around the house. Don’t lose heart parents. Keep working and keep talking and use these tips to restore order in your house.

I hope these tips have given you some ideas to know how to get your kids help and allow your house to run more smoothly.