Why You Should Have Your Kids Do Chores

When you were growing up, you probably did chores. It’s a time honored tradition to have kids help around the house, and in the past, most families had some sort of chore system in place. Today, though, there’s some debate. Many parents feel that it’s their responsibility to manage the house and that children should be allowed to be carefree for as long as possible. What’s more, it can sometimes feel more efficient to just do a chore yourself, rather than waiting or, worse, nagging until a child gets it done. However, there are many benefits to having children pitch in and help with the family chore list.

• Chores help kids learn responsibility. When you assign children regular chores, particularly chores that pertain to their own belongings, you are teaching them responsibility and self-reliance. They’ll also gain confidence, because they’ll have a sense of accomplishment when they successfully complete their chores. Being responsible for chores can also help kids develop a good work ethic.
• Children learn life skills from doing chores. Eventually, everyone needs to know basic skills like laundry, cooking, and keeping house. By the time they move out of your home, kids will also need to know how to do things like creating a budget and maintaining an automobile. These are things they won’t learn in school, but you can assign chores that help teach these skills at home. Kids who balance chores with school, homework, and extracurricular activities also learn valuable time management skills.
• Chores make children feel like part of a team. Being a productive member of the family makes a child feel grounded and secure. What’s more, home is a great place to learn teamwork skills they’ll use at school and in the workforce.
• By doing chores, kids gain some perspective that reinforces respect. They won’t fully appreciate all you do for them until they move out and try to navigate the world on their own. When they do chores, though, children get a glimpse of the parental workload, and this actually might make them more aware of the impact of the messes they make.
• Families can bond over doing chores. When you share tasks, it gives you the opportunity to spend time together, working towards a common goal. You may find that your little ones are thrilled to be useful, and your teens open up during the parallel interaction of working on something together.

So, which chores are age appropriate? Toddlers can pick up their toys, hang their clothes on hooks, and put placemats on the table. Pre-schoolers can set the whole table and can even help prepare meals, with close supervision. They can help you sort clean laundry into piles for different family members, and help with grocery shopping and putting groceries away. By the time they’re in school, kids can water the plants, feed the pets, help fold laundry, take out the trash, help with meal planning and preparation, vacuum, sweep, and mop, and put away clean dishes. Teenagers should be able to do laundry, clean the bathroom, mow the lawn, load the dishwasher, and prepare meals. A good way to determine the best chores to assign is to think about things you want your kids to learn how to do

This is all well and good, but how can you actually get your kids to do their chores? For little children, a sticker chart can be very motivational. Older kids are often motivated by receiving and allowance, and you can set up a token economy in which kids are rewarded for doing specific tasks.

By giving your children the opportunity to be responsible when they’re young, you’re preparing them to be independent, confident people, ready to find their place in the world. At the Center for Vasectomy Reversal, we love making the world better by helping people grow their families. We pride ourselves on helping men improve their fertility through uncompromising, concierge-level patient care. Under the direction of Dr. Joshua Green, our team provides state-of-the-art treatment for men who need a reversal of their vasectomy or have other fertility concerns. To learn more, contact us through our website or call 941-894-6428.