How to Get Kids (Happily!) Involved in Chores

Get your little ones helping around the home, and teach them responsibility, life skills, and the satisfaction of pitching in.

Ages

6-8

How to Get Kids (Happily!) Involved in Chores

With a little persistence — and a lot of encouragement — you can go from being the primary cook, cleaner, and clothes-washer to the manager of a smooth-running domestic team!

The home is the best training ground for self-sufficiency. When kids help with household chores, it instills a work ethic, encourages self-reliance, and can be a gratifying experience. Also, kids often enjoy the before-and-after results they get from applying a little elbow grease to dirty bathrooms and dusty dressers. Children who contribute to the family tend to feel important and helpful.

Getting the Job Done, Step-by-Step:  

1. Get everyone involved. Hold a family meeting to discuss chores. Children will be more invested in the process of doing chores if you include them in conversations about what needs to be done. 

2. Make a list of basic, weekly chores. There's no right or wrong way to divvy up the chores. Some families make each family member responsible for keeping clean one room in the house (the bathroom, for instance). Others have their kids volunteer for various jobs rather than assigning them. Still, rotating chores regularly can help keep kids from getting bored. 

3. Interview job candidates and fill positions. With a little imagination, you can come up with funny job titles such as: Sweeper-upper or Broom Commander; Dog Feeder; Filler-upper (restocks napkins, toilet paper, paper towels, etc.); Rug Rat (in charge of vacuuming); Sink Sergeant; Mirror Maven; Garbage Guru; Greens-keeper (waters household plants); and Table-setter/Silverware Sergeant. 

4. Get to work! For best results: 

  • Be realistic about kids' ability. Don't give young children more than they can handle (too much frustration, after all, could lead to an early retirement!).
  • Show how to get it done. Kids often take clean laundry and neat family rooms for granted. Put to rest the notion that a hardworking, invisible elf lives at your house and returns it to order when the family sleeps.  
  • Emphasize effort over outcome. Your goal is to promote responsibility and a cooperative attitude — not perfection.
  • Make it fun. Exchange jokes as you fold laundry together. Play music while your child sets the table. With a soup ladle as a makeshift microphone, they can play Karaoke Kitchen during KP duty.

5. Be sure to thank them. Let your kids know you appreciate their help. “Thanks for putting your soccer gear away, Billy,” can go a long way in nurturing cooperation. When kids feel appreciated, they’re more likely to pitch in without protest.

Books | Individual Titles | Board Book
How Do Dinosaurs Clean Their Rooms?
Come along for some BIG fun as your favorite dinosaurs learn to pick up and put away their toys. How do dinosaurs clean their rooms? With trash cans and dusters and brooms!
Now Jane Yolen's playful, read-aloud text and Mark Teague's hilarious illustrations show your own little dinosaurs just how fun and easy it can be. Brimming with the same infectious humor as the other HOW DO DINOSAURS tales, this new board book is a perfect companion to the immensely popular picture books and a great baby gift as well.
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GRADES
Pre-K - K
$7.99
Following Directions
Responsibility
Cooperation
Raising Kids
Age 8
Age 7
Age 6
First Jobs and Chores