Kid-ding Around with Housework – 1

When you were kids, you probably heard your parents complain that you never did anything “to help around the house”. Today, we’re still telling our kids to clean their rooms, help set the table and do other household chores. And when we do, we still hear them ask, “Me? Now? Why?” or worse, they “pass the buck” to younger siblings.

Kids detest housework for the simple reason that it interferes with their free time. If Mama calls them in to help set the table when they’re out playing, or Papa asks them to help wash the car when they’re engrossed in their favorite book or T.V. program, they will simply not respond, no matter the amount of cajoling of threats.

The key to converting your kids is by transforming household tasks into fun games. One of the primary tasks of parenting is to bring up your children to be responsible, confident, happy and independent. What better place to start than at home?

The first thing to remember is not to treat your kids like little adults. Make each chore child-friendly. For instance, don’t tell your young child to clean the bathroom. Instead, assign only a few tasks a child can easily handle, such as washing the sink, putting away the toothbrushes or polishing the bathroom mirror. Make sure that the environment, too, is child-friendly; don’t expect your child to put the tooth-cabinet where they belong. Give her a stool to stand on, or lower the shell to a height she can reach.

Make household chores fun and easy for your child. If the putting away of toys is a constant source of irritation between you and your child, try this: buy a big box (one used to pack canned good or bottles in), wrap it in brown paper and let the child draw pictures on it or decorate it. Let them imagine that the box is a truck or wagon, decorate it accordingly, and push it around the house, picking up their toys as they go. Or they can pretend that they are robots or wind-up toys who pick things up. In setting the table, provide a model to copy. Cut out paper placemat and paste them onto a piece of cardboard to guide the child. There are other countless ways to encourage kids to help around the house.