Getting your children involved in the daily or routine chores around the home doesn’t have to be a challenge; it can be both fun and rewarding for them too!
Let’s explore a few different ways to have your children assist with cleaning the home.
Provide Age-Appropriate Chores
Children can begin cleaning the home at an early age with age-appropriate chores. Each age group of children has various household tasks they can assist with that will help with hand-eye coordination, following directions, and instilling responsibility.
Showing children how to perform the task and having them model it with your assistance is a fantastic way to learn and know the expectation of them with love and patience.
For example, some age-appropriate chores for 2-3-year-olds are to learn how to put their toys away or assist with feeding the family pet. School-aged children can help with packing their school backpacks or lunches, make their beds, or put clothing away, to name a few.
For more information on age-appropriate chores for children, I recommend reviewing an article from The Child Development Institute, The Ultimate List of Age-Appropriate Chores.
Eliminate Distractions
Most children, and even adults, find chores to be relatively boring and don’t want to give up 15-30 minutes of their time to complete a task so they can get back to what they were doing.
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By eliminating distractions and using a timer, you can help motivate them to complete their chores during the allotted time frame with more focus and attention—Resulting in them being able to return to their favorite activity.
Turn off the electronics—television, tablets, phone, game consoles, etc.
Make Cleaning Fun
As mentioned previously, using a timer can be helpful to encourage the child to complete the task or multiple chores in the given time frame. However, a timer can also make cleaning fun in the way of a game. For example, who finishes the most chores in the selected time frame or their chore first, receives a reward such as an extra 15-min of extra time with a parent reading a book.
A book recommendation is Anthony’s Way, I AM ME written by our founder Lisa Ciao which is about a boy who always asks his mother why he is special needs and her response to all the reasons why he’s special.
You can also incorporate other games to make cleaning fun. For example, write all the regular household chores on popsicle sticks or tongue depressors and either roll dice to determine how many sticks each person picks or, for each incorrect math answer provided, determine the number of chore sticks they’re required to complete.
Another idea is a treasure hunt for younger children. While they pick up their toys, they can be looking for the hidden “gems” you strategically placed throughout the house. These items could be small trinkets, healthy snacks, or even pieces to a word puzzle that they can put together to see what fun activity they’ll get to do once they complete their chores.
Use a Reward System
Using a reward system for your children to encourage their participation with chores can be easy to do and doesn’t need to be overly complicated. A sticker chart for each task completed receives a sticker, and once they have a certain number of stickers earned, they can pick something out at the store or a prize box you keep tucked away. You can also provide an allowance, extra screen time, or the option to choose a fun family activity once chores are complete.
Discuss the reward options with your significant other to ensure you both are on the same page to avoid confusion with the children and to ensure you both follow through with the reward.
Don’t Use Chores as a Punishment
As parents, it can be commonplace in society to have our children do chores as punishment. While I agree that sometimes this is valid when they need to learn to clean up a mess they made to teach a valuable life lesson, it’s not ok to force a child to do chores out of spite or unwarranted punishment.
I encourage you to be mindful of this so that your children can learn that a chore is an expected responsibility and no matter what requires completion.
As you can see, getting your children involved in the household chores can benefit both you as the parent and the children. Not only that, it can be fun for all involved. It may require a little bit of planning, but it’ll be worth it!
Share in the comments: What are your favorite ways to make cleaning fun for your children?