Teaching Your Children to Help With Housework
You may have heard that it is good for your children to help with the housework. This is true! We’ll explain why and how to introduce kids to chores.
Helping with chores is the beginning of a fundamental lesson for your kids: the ability to be independent. Something as routine and essential as being responsible for certain tasks can enable your children to grow up safely, independently, and increase their ability to achieve their goals.
Experts agree that helping children at home with tasks adapted to their age and skills is very helpful.
Benefits of helping with housework
There are many advantages to letting your kids help with small tasks around the house.
-It promotes self-respect. Knowing that they can do housework will give them a sense of satisfaction and boost their self-esteem.
-It encourages independence. Being independent should be one of the goals of educating children. Raising children who can face life’s challenges without being dependent on anyone but themselves is a priority.
-It teaches responsibility. Responsibility is to face the things that are put before us without escaping and procrastinating.
-It encourages teamwork. Children will learn to work in teams to collaborate. It is helpful for them to know how to manage tasks as a team. Together you can do more and much better.
-It provides order and hygiene. It is important to know that having a tidy and clean home is essential. Order in the home can help a person organize ideas. It is about establishing the ground rules for living together so that they can have their own home in the future.
-It encourages the ability to help others. Collaboration helps children understand that these duties are everyone’s responsibility, not just the mother’s or the father’s. Your child will take great pleasure in helping the rest of the family.
How to teach housework collaboration
There are a few tips to follow for teaching cooperation with household chores.
-Don’t be bossy. The goal is not to make your children feel like they have to do housework, but to internalize discipline and responsibility. If you give him orders, it becomes an obligation and as a result something he doesn’t want to do. Offer task sharing and collaboration.
-Make task tables. Everyone will fulfill the task assigned to him according to his age and ability.
-Help when needed. Avoid doing housework for them. Teach them to do it themselves, do it together, or just stand by them while they do it.
-Do not yell or criticize. Do not seek perfection, on the contrary, do not try to achieve it. They will get better with time, but you have to be patient. Don’t yell at them or force them to do it your way. They will achieve their own perfection.
-Reward efforts. You have to value the work done. Remember that saying well done is more encouraging than saying something was done poorly.
Age-appropriate household chores
Do not give your children a difficult task. As they grow, you must assign the appropriate task.
Note that they will cooperate more if they think of it as a game. Improve the system of rewards that can be obtained after completing quests; It will be an effective method.
Young children (2-3 years)
Throwing dirty cloths in the trash
collecting your toys
Bringing dirty clothes to the washing machine
feeding the animal
going to the toilet alone
trying to dress by yourself
4-6 years old children
tidy his room
trying to make your bed
folding your clothes
7-10 years old children
Watering plants
Wash the dishes
make your bed alone
Assisting in cleaning: sweeping, dusting, etc.
Pre-Adolescence (10-12 years)
Filling the washing machine
Assisting with cooking and washing dishes
take out the trash
The sooner you teach your children to help with household chores, the sooner they learn that things will not happen by themselves and therefore their help is needed.