Getting children to help with the household chores does not need to be painful task. It can be made a lot easier with a few simple steps, everybody is able to contribute and benefit from the process.
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Make a Game Of It
Making a game of tidying up around the house can be fun, and it requires minimal effort or planning. Adding a competitive element can appeal to a lot of children, and dedicated smartphone apps are available for older children.
Singing A Clean Up Song
A fun and repetitive clean up song can keep children smiling whilst helping with the chores. It is easy enough to make up a simple song, or alternatively, a quick Google / YouTube search will suffice.
Rewards
Set the expectations clearly, and let the kids know how fantastic the reward is. If you have multiple kids, a team reward is usually preferred over individual rewards. Adding additional caveats help with older children to prevent moans!
Jiming
It is almost impossible to keep cleaning fun for lengthy periods of time. 10 or 15 minutes maximum is recommended, done at a time when the kids have energy and are alert.
Tools
It is essential that children have tools which are suitable for them. There are dedicated websites selling for children's tools, such as mops and brushes.
Family Meetings
Family meetings are a fantastic way of bringing everybody together and giving children in which chores they do, whilst also allowing them to see that chores are being divided up equally. Getting their "buy in" is essential, being dictated to removes any sense of autonomy.
Allowance / Pocket Money
This works particularly well for older children, and can help in not only motivating them to do chores, but also introduce them to valuable financial concepts (value of money / saving up money etc).
Make It Challenging
As children get more and more familiar with specific chores, they quickly become boring. Make is more challenging, harder work and increase levels of responsibility to keep them motivated. Chores can be physically hard work!
