Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Kids Vs. Chores: How to Win The Losing Battle





Parent: "Why haven't you done your chores?"
Child: "I'll do them later!"

Whether we like to admit it or not, we’ve all been in that type of position. Whether it is from being a parent or being a kid in the house, it stinks. Most the time it ends up with a yelling match and a stomping child getting annoyed that they have to do their chores, whatever they may be. It doesn’t have to be this way anymore. With the below simple tips not only will your children be doing their chores but *gasp* they may actually like doing them.





Have you considered making chores a game yet? There are many ways to do this including making it a timed challenge. Timing is a great way to get them to do their chores and have a little fun. For example, try making it a contest between each child. Whoever has their chores done first within the next 30 minutes can stay up 20 minutes later. This is a great way to get the kids moving and keeping time for them to be able to do other things as well. 

Make sure that you are also letting them know that you as the parent will be checking their progress at the end of the challenge. This almost works like a reward system in a way. After all, what kid doesn’t like staying up past their normal bedtime?

For more creative chore game ideas try a few of these: Thriving Family & KidSpot.










Some people aren’t very big fans of offering an allowance to their children, but I think that it is a great way to keep them motivated and give them a lesson in how earning money is done by working for it. After all, we as adults go to work and do what we we’re asked in order to make a paycheck. Clean Mama has a great FREE chore and reward chart printable. I've linked to it at the bottom of this post. 

Depending on their age, parents can choose exactly how much is given. Let’s say that your child is around 5 or 6, maybe some change. If older but under 10, consider say maybe a dollar or two a week. I would say they older they are maybe they could receive more as their chores will of course be different. 

If they don’t do the chores consider taking part of their allowance away. This way you are not rewarding them for not doing what they are responsible for. This not only helps the children to get use to doing chores, but you are also working on your communication with your kids. Not to mention, this will help them have a little more motivation to do their housework.
  




Rewards are a great way to help your children take responsibility for their chores and giving them some extra incentive. Some parents like to give an allowance and other like to give rewards for good behavior like staying up later than normal, more computer time or even a new video game. Wouldn’t that be great? Again depending on their age, rewards can differ from one thing to another.
 

While children are being rewarded, this will also give them a way to feel like they’re doing the dishes, cleaning their ream, etc. makes them more significant in helping out. Chores are work and that is a great thing to be rewarded at. After all, as I had mentioned previously, adults are rewarded often at work when they do well. 

Overall if you’re still stuck on getting your children to do their chores, consider making it more fun by adding music to the mix. Much like I’ve suggested in Spring Cleaning Tips for Teens, listening to music is a great way to stay motivated and get your child going. If their favorite song is by Barbie, than by all means let them listen to it over and over. After all, cleaning shouldn’t always be so boring. It should be fun and rewarding. 



Click the picture below for a free chore chart printable from CleanMama:




Do you reward your kids for doing chores? 

34 comments:

  1. Those are great tips. I think giving an allowance is a great reward to get the started.

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  2. My kids are all grown, but when they were growing up I would try and make games out of cleaning their rooms. I would time them, too. And, yes, I admit, I would bribe them with money. Hey, money talks. :) Great tips!

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  3. We kind of work all of these together lol. My six year old gets "tickets" for good behavior, including most chores except her one everyday task of emptying the dishwasher. Those tickets can be "turned in" for a whole bunch of prizes- mani/pedis at the salon, cash, shopping at stores, or something as simple as spending a night in mom's bed. It works really well for us :)

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  4. I so like your ideas - my son did receive an allowance and when he was 6 yrs old - I worked at the Conference Centers and he just had fun helping (standing on a stool) with the easy things and a cook's hat and apron - as he got older lists were our thing - thank you for a fun blog post

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  5. These are great ideas! I heard Dave Ramsey talk about using commission concept as opposed to allowance as a way to teach earning for the type/quality of work you do as opposed to more of a sense of "entitlement" that you can get with the "allowance" concept or word. It may just be an issue of semantics if you are using allowance for kids to earn their money rather than money just given to them but I thought it was at least interesting to think about/consider! I definitely want my kids to develop a strong work ethic, something that seems to be challenging where many parents, it seems, are not concerned with this.

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  6. At times I reward my kids for helping around the house. We really don't have chores but we are required to clean up our messes. Sometimes my daughter will ask how she can earn money and I will give her out of the box tasks mama does not like to do.

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  7. Those are great tips on helping. My kids help me around the house but don't do chores.

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  8. These are great tips, when I was a kid there was no way in toots i was ever gonna argue with my mum about my chores I had to do it I do it and there was no two ways about it but i do love your tips.

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  9. I don't reward them to do their chores. I just fight for them to do them....not good. will follow your tips

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  10. We were always given an allowance when we were younger, and I would do anything for that allowance LOL We had chances to make MORE money by picking up extra chores, too. I will definitely be doing that when my kids are old enough!

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  11. My son is too young for chores at the moment, but luckily he loves cleaning up after himself. I hope this continues throughout his life and we will definitely have a reward chart and weekly allowance for him.

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  12. Those are great tips. It was definitely a challenge to get the kids to do chores when they were little.

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  13. We did a chore chart when my kids were younger. If they didn't do their chores they didn't get an allowance. When my son was little, he actually loved cleaning, so it was easy to get him to help out.

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  14. I think sometimes kids don't want to do chores because they don't understand how the end results are better. Allowances are a great incentive for them to want to complete chores.

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  15. I've done incentive charts and they work for awhile. Money is always good, it motivates us all right?

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  16. What some great ideas, I wasn't good for doing my jobs when I was a kid, used to like being out playing more. x

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  17. My boys are pretty good on the whole, they love a challenge as you say! We have many races to do things ;)

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  18. We are always struggling to get our kids to do their chores. It is such a headache. I am going to try all of these ideas. Hopefully it helps!

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  19. You just described our house!! Its a constant struggle and what works with one kid doesn't work with the other two! Great tips!

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  21. I think allowance really helps and they get to appreciate the reward system. I had so many excuses too when I was a kid.

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  22. Hehehehe these are great tips!! My daughter is almost 3 and she's at that age where she thinks cleaning is fun.... I'm hoping this stage last forever lol....

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  23. I always received an allowance as a kid and that got me to do my chores no problem! I'll probably do the same if I ever have kids.

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  24. This is great and I'm actually posting about chores today too! What great tips! We've recently discovered an app that is really helping in the chore department!

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  25. These are all great ideas! It's so hard to get my kids motivated to do chores.

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  26. Great ideas! I have used reward charts with my younger daughter.. and she really motivated to do errands.

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  27. When kiddo was younger we made a game out of it. Using money didn't really work because at such a young age they don't really understand the significance of money. So, in turn, she could earn a toy from the dollar store. As she got older, and grasped the concept of money, we stopped buying her things she wanted and had her do chores to earn those things.

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  28. My teen is not so good at doing chores these days. It's a tad annoying. ;)

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  29. I really need to get in the ball with giving the kids chores. It's just easier to do it myself. lol

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  30. Sorry, I'll have to disagree with you. Work is work and chores a reality of being part of a family. We all have to contribute to the functioning of a family. I don't get paid to do my chores, they don't get paid to do theirs. Its part of being a member of my family. Its just a different point of view.

    If it works to give allowances for your family. That is great for you.

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  31. We make them a game. My kids do better when they compete in different areas like seeing who can put away the most items.

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  32. I love this! My daughter is almost old enough for chores, totally bookmarking this post!

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  33. I'm past this stage in my life. I remember though having a chart - so old school I guess. There are lots of apps out there now for this too.

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  34. I actually have a chore series to do next week and one of the things that I encourage is making it fun for them. That always seems to work.

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