Children and Chores: Rewards and Games Can Motivate Kids to Help

I am not a child expert, only a young mother with experience. Like most parents, I believe a child should be brought up to have responsibilities. I believe children should play a roll in helping out when it comes to daily household chores. No matter how small the task at hand may be, it is usually a better if not more interesting one if you find a way to include your little ones. Getting them to like doing the task is a different story. It seems the older they become, the harder it is to get them to participate in helping out. But there are some tricks of the trade that can help you out with this. As much as most of us dislike cleaning, dusting, wiping & washing there is a way to get the little ones involved without a long drawn out temper tantrum of yelling, screaming, fussing & fighting. Here are a few techniques I have tried along the way.

The first thing you may want to try is to make the task seem more fun to them. Try incorporating it into a game. Try to incorporate their favorite board game or card game into it. For Example, lets set the scene, you have just finished eating dinner, there are dirty dishes to be washed, leftovers to be put away, tables to be wiped & cleaned & counters to scrubbed. So instead of trying the normal routine of automatically directing one of your children to load the dishwasher, which will then more than likely be followed by the tantrum scene. Let try something different this time. Get a pair dice, tell the children its a Game called "rolling for chores". Tell the children the first roll is for loading the dishwasher, who ever gets the highest roll does that chore. After the roll, you have one child down & one chore down. Go to the next child for their turn. Before you know it the kids are ready to play again.

Another way to help persuade the little rascals to help is by making a "reward chart." This works well for children between the ages of 9 to 13. Children love to be rewarded for accomplishments. Whether its having friends over, buying the child a special toy they feel they must have, or even giving them special privileges for any evening. My experience that I am going through right now with my son, he is always wanting me to buy this & buy that. I cannot ever remember taking him into a department store & him not wanting to go straight to the toy section. He has to have a new play station 2 game, the newest music CD, the newest wrestling toys , whatever it may be that catches his attention at the time. With this techniques all you need is a few extra minutes to plan things out & a calender of the month. Write on the date certain things that have to be done on certain days, example taking out the trash. Now make a list of other chores such as washing dishes, taking the dog for a walk, vacuuming, dusting, bringing in the mail, doing yard work. etc.. Beside each one of the accomplishment (chores) assign an appropriate number of points you feel the chore is worth. If the child is old enough you can even incorporate making good grades on a quiz and test, as I have also done with my son. When the child completes an accomplishment they get to write it in on the calendar or possibly put a special sticker on that date & they receive the set amount of points. After reaching a certain amount of points the child gets to claim their reward. In my situation, I am rewarding my son $1.00 for ever 100 points earned. He gets his "paycheck" at the end of each month. That is what he is allowed to spend those items he feels he just cannot live without. If you choose to use money as a reward you will also be teaching your child the all important value of a dollar.
You also must remember that children get bored with doing the same thing over & over again. Change the games & techniques you've selected to meet your needs & lifestyle as a parent.

Just remember kids love having fun. If we as adults can make something seem fun to them, they will usually do what ever it is.