In order for the atmosphere in the home to be positive, it is necessary for all family members to cooperate. In addition to good interpersonal relationships, it is also important that the chores in the house are shared equally among the older members, but even the little ones should not lag far behind them.
Although younger children are still small in order to do more demanding jobs, they can contribute by having everyone do something very little or do some work at home once a week. It is very important that children start adopting work habits at an earlier age.
By including children in this type of obligation, you help them to develop properly, that is, how to take care of themselves, adopt home skills that will be useful to them at an older age. They also develop the skills of maintaining relationships with others in terms of communication, negotiation and teamwork. If they are part of this team, children become more capable and responsible.
However, that is not so simple, considering that they are still not mature enough at that age to understand the importance of that.
That is why parents are mostly the ones who find themselves doing all the work in the house, and if you find yourself in this, you can read some of our tips below that may be useful to you.
Chores in line with age
It is important to note that daily obligations should be in accordance with a certain age. Firstly, excessive demands cannot bring anything good (they are bad for the child and will not be fulfilled), and secondly, too low demands cannot acquire work habits that are intended for the child’s age. It is best to find a balance, to help you reach that balance, we have a few recommendations for you.
Recommendations refer to jobs that are specific to certain ages. For example, a 2-3 year old child can be in charge of arranging toys and books, hanging clothes on hangers or setting up a table for a meal. A little later, when he turns 4-5, you can add some more responsibilities to him, such as helping with food preparation under your watch, sorting clothes, helping with grocery shopping and spreading laundry in the designated area in your condo or home. Lamudi, a property platform with listings in Quezon City and other major cities, also recommends gardening with kids to teach them responsibility.
At the age of 6-8, a child can water gardens or other plants in the house, feed pets, wipe the table, floor, take out the garbage, help younger siblings and the like. As the child grows, you can add more obligations to him, but at the same time think about his needs, possibilities, interests and desires.
It is also advisable to allow him to change jobs from time to time because his interests will change over the years, and in this way you will achieve a fair rotation of responsibilities in the family between all members.
Best ways to get them involved
Now that you know what jobs you can assign to your child, it is important to do it right. As we mentioned before, it’s not that simple. Why is it so?
Depending on age, children go through different developmental stages, which means that their interests also change. That is why it is necessary to constantly awaken their inner motivation, because only in that way will they be able to listen to you, and at the same time learn something because they will do it of their own free will. However, the following question arises…
Why is motivation important and how to do it? If you encourage your child often, he will be interested in helping you. If he does it unsuccessfully the first time, you need to explain the process to him again so that he will be successful next time. As long as you continue to encourage him, he will take it as a reward and keep doing it. You can make things even more interesting by using apps like My Simple Family. There you will make a schedule for each member of the household and you will all stick to it. It will be very familiar to the children, because the app is very close to them because they constantly use smartphones.
Reward them with pocket money
If your child is a little older and it is clear to him how money works as well as its value, then this is one of the ways to interest him. You should not determine the monetary value of each obligation in the house individually and give the child money for each thing done, but there are some situations in which you can do that.
For example, if you know that your child is saving for something, you can reward him by occasionally giving him extra money for additional obligations and thus motivating him. You can connect responsibilities in the house so that the child gets a new experience, is motivated and earns money.
This will happen if you establish an agreement that the work is done regularly, for example, cleaning the room once a day, taking out the garbage on certain days and so on. In this way, you will develop the habit of the child to work regularly in order to earn money, and on the other hand, you will interest him to continue to do so.
Flowers in a pot
This is one creative solution. All you need to do is let your imagination run wild and do a little handicraft. It should be in line with children of different ages. You will need a pot for each child (if you have more than one), a base for it like mud, rice or styrofoam, and you will also need colored papers with which to make flowers. In the end, you still have flowers left to stick them on.
You need to draw and cut flowers, fill them with written assignments or simply present them pictorially, and then stick them on a stick. The goal of this activity is for the child to fill his vase with completed obligations every day. To make it more interesting to him, he can only decorate a vase.
A bucket of obligations
Another way you can motivate children includes a small bucket, wooden clips, colored cotton wool, a marker and glue. That’s all you need for this little project. You need wooden clips to write down chores with a marker, and you will stick colored cotton wool on top of the clips. The goal is for the child to take off the clip after each completed obligation and put it in the bucket.
Conclusion
Most parents have a problem asking their children to do anything, including housework. However, the child will not adopt the work habit on its own. It is necessary for parents to use specific methods and in that way awaken motivation in the child. Our advice is not to leave anything to chance but to start that inner motivation in your child, and thus make some daily obligations easier for yourself.
