5 Tips to Get Kids to Help Around the House

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Being a Mom is never easy: balancing kids, work, chores, and downtime is almost an impossible task. But don’t fret! Here’s 5 handy tips to transform the kids from tiny messy terrors to tiny bundles of joy who want to help around the house with chores.

Make sure they know their role

Children love to be seen as good and helpful and it can be super simple to reinforce this. Rather than asking a child to help in the kitchen, or tidy their toys, try to give them a title such as “Mommy’s helper” or “Super tidier”. This can give children a sense of purpose and make them much more excited to do their chores than children who were just asked to help. By giving children a positive title, it reinforces the idea they they’re doing a good job and are making their Mommy proud.

Make it age appropriate

It can be so easy to fall into the habit of trying to be “Super Mom” and run around doing housework and tidying up after the kids but it’s important to start them young! By giving children age appropriate chores, it enforces that sense of responsibility and achievement right from the off, making it much easier to get them to help with house cleaning or yard work further down the line. Start with simple chores such as tidying up their toys or helping to look after pets and try to make a game out of it. Children will be much more eager to engage with a task if it’s fun so think about asking how many toys they can pick up in a minute, or racing them to finish tidying up. Making chores fun will instantly provide children with positive reinforcement which will not only making them more likely to do their chores, but also get the job done quicker!

Remember to reward

Speaking of positive reinforcement, it’s SO important that kids know when they’ve done a job. This will keep the idea of chores a positive thing and make them more likely to help out in the future. Providing occasional small rewards for hard work e.g. a bag of sweets, or small amount of spending money may be even more effective in incentivising less appealing chores. However, frequent rewards may raise children’s expectations of doing chores, making them less likely to help out without them.

Ask nicely

Some children will always push their luck and try to get out of their chores so it’s important to remind them of which jobs need doing but remember to keep it positive! Asking with a “please” and a “thank you” will mean children are more likely to complete their chores whilst also demonstrating and teaching young children their manners.

Try to mix up tasks a few times a week to keep it interesting, possibly making assigning chores more exciting by picking tasks out of a hat. Make sure to demonstrate any new chores and be clear about what is expected of each task.