Once I sprayed the floor with cleaner, and had my daughters sit on washcloths and scoot around on the floor. That was so many years ago, but they still bring it up.
Can you share your tips on making a household chore fun to do? Thanks a million!
Put on music and everyone works together. Praises all along the way about what an awesome job they are doing. Truth is, work is work. But, attitude makes all the difference in the world. And, don't sit around on the computer or watching tv while everyone else works. That's not very motivational. :)
My kids are 5 & 9.
They do chores.
As a Mom, I can't spend all my time, making EVERYTHING they need to do, into a fun "game" just so they do what they need to do.
At their age, they just have to realize that they need to do things, even if they don't want to. And it just is.
I don't reward my kids for chores. Because it is something everyone in the family should do, and it helps, everyone. They are a part of the family.
And that is what family does.
I tell them the sooner they do it, the sooner it is over.
Sure when they were younger, I made it fun. And taught them how to do "chores."
But heck they are 5 and 9 now... and they know by now, that chores are just about doing it because of responsibility and taking care of "their" house is important. Not only Mommy, does it. Not only Daddy does it. THEY need to help, too.
My daughter LOVES to mop, my son loves to vacuum, my other son is just great at doing whatever we ask of him - no complaints. The chores are split fairly and we all work together to get things done.
It's just life - so we can't make it more fun other than letting them do the things they prefer to do instead of making them do the things they hate.
Work hard and play later is the motto in our house as well. Same with school work. But sometimes our house is a flat mess and that's just life too.
For my little kids, we do several things:
1) laundry "basketball" and call out colors as we put things in the proper stacks.
2) We play music and dance/sing while we work.
3) While cooking and cleaning the kitchen, we discuss what it's all for, the ins and outs of cooking and how/why we do what we do. I tell stories that different things remind me of as we come across something.
4) My 2 year old likes to play "Clean-up choo-choo". He gets to push the laundry basket around and we toss all the stuff in it (shoes, toys, pens, whatever) that we find out of place and then he gets to drive it to each room and we make "deliveries" in the rooms (shoes in the proper closet, trash to the trash can, etc, etc).
5) When my oldest turned 3 and was able to understand it, we started him on the allowance system. YES he knows that no matter what, he will do his chores because that's what's required in the family. HOWEVER if he chooses to do his chores well (age appropriately "well") and with a good attitude, not fighting me, then he will get paid for doing his "job" well. We have been doing this for a couple years and it works great for us! He has his little calendar and when he has earned his pay, he gets a star on the calendar. If he does not earn his pay, or if he's had a really bad day attitude-wise, he gets a black X. On payday (Saturday evening since our calendar weeks end on Saturday), we count his stars and he gets paid accordingly. We divide it all up: 10% to tithes/charity, 10% to savings, 80% to spending (he has a bank called The Giving Bank which is cute, decorated in stickers to divide the 3 buildings up: a church, a bank, a store). He loves putting the different money into the different buildings; it's a point of pride with him. And sometimes he's working for a specific thing he wants to buy. If he's really great or especially helpful with little brother, or if he does extra out of the ordinary chores (spring cleaning at this time of year = trimming hedges, washing screens and windows, bagging up lawn clippings, as well as just extra "stuff")---that means he can get 2 stars for a bonus that day (and I'll decide what the bonus is: from an extra 10 cents to $5, depending on what was going on that day). He is well aware chores get done "just because" but he knows it's much more fun to do it with a good attitude and get paid, so he can buy a new super soaker or whatever.
We pay our kids for some chores but not others. I think they do them better when they know they will get something from it. Good luck.
Money. lol. Even for my 2 year old a quarter (money) makes anything fun and exciting... so even now she has an allowance because she understands her toys cost money and she likes that she "earns" it. I guess we'll see how well her money management skills turn out haha.. we'll always give her an allowance for what she does around the house so we figured why not start now? When she cashes money in for toys we just spend our money and put "her" money away and save it for her.
I don't. Our motto is.... Work hard so that you can play hard!
Enjoying and being present in my everyday tasks has been nearly a life-long goal for me. I always noticed that when I took pleasure in my work, my daughter noticed and wanted to imitate me. Kids love to copy their parents' everyday activities, and will continue to do so if they learn to like the work, just like Mommy.
Lol, thats really cute. I would always have cleaning day on Friday. I would put the music on loud so my boys could hear it in every room. We would all help eachother to the beat of the songs. The kids actually enjoyed cleaning and hanging clothes, what ever had to be done, it was fun. Oh then I would make whatever they wanted for dinner (and dessert) for making the chores a fun thing for Mom!! Good luck!
M. A.
I have a list of chores that my 10 & 7 year olds are capable of doing (dusting, sweeping, emptying dishwasher, scoop dog poop, etc.) Each chore is on a little slip of paper with a "Free Pass" thrown in for fun. Each Sunday they get to pick a new chore from the cup and that's their chore for the week.
I keep a list of who has picked which chore, so they have to go through the whole rotation of chores before starting again. This keeps them from getting bored with their chore and gives them a wide range of skills that they will need when they're on their own some day.
They get SO EXCITED when it's time to pick a new one. It's really quite cute.
