The word ‘chores’ doesn’t always need to be a synonym to ‘drudgery’. In your house, a synonym for ‘chores’ can be ‘fun’! Maybe you can call chore time ‘mission time’ where you seek to wipe out all of the bad guys from your house. In this case, those bad guys are germs. Here are some tips and tricks to help you bring enjoyment into daily chores:
Incorporate chores in between school subjects
This helps to spread out the chores and make them seem less ominous. Also, it will be helpful for your kids to be able to get out of the school room for a couple minutes and move around. Then, when it is time for the next subject, they won’t be as reluctant to sit still.
- Make a list
A list helps to create a feeling of satisfaction when a chore has been finished. Also, your child will be able to see what needs to be accomplished in a day and will not have the excuse of ‘forgetting’ to do it. You can put chore lists on the refrigerator, on the school table, on the wall, or in any other high-traffic area.
- Reward prizes for chores accomplished on time
After a designated time, such as two weeks or a month, you may choose to give a special treat to your kids if they have done all of their chores on every day of that month or week. This way, they learn that things have to be worked for, which will carry over to when they get a job in the future and earn wages.
- Have family chore time
Appoint a certain time of day as chore time. During this time, everyone in the house, including yourself, must be doing a household chore. This way, siblings have less of a chance of getting distracted by playmates or other actions that could be going on in the house.
- Chore out of a hat
Just for fun, you can write down all the household chores for the day on pieces of paper and put them in a bowl or hat. Your children can take turns picking out of the bowl until all the chores are done. In order to spread out the chores evenly, you can make two bowls—one for longer chores and one for shorter chores, so that one unlucky camper will not have to vacuum the whole house and wash all the dishes and his sibling only has to set the table and clean the kitchen counter. You can also make different chore bowls that correspond to the different ages of your children.
- Follow up chores with snack time
In order to motivate your children, you can send off the kids to do chores while you prepare a snack to reward them for their work. This way, they are looking forward to something and will be able to complete their tasks faster and more joyfully.
- Sing!
Chores are always better with singing. You can turn on the radio, plug in an iPod, or just have ‘family choir practice’ and have fun singing together!
- Helpful explanations
Chores are always better accepted when children know why they are done. You can explain the germs that grow on the kitchen sink, the bacteria on the floor, or the reason why we don’t want to eat on dirty dishes! As a family, you are a team to make the house run smoothly. When children work as a team, with mom as the coach, many things can be accomplished!
