How to Get your Kids to Help Around the House

Ok, so we have talked about cleaning our homes, and if you have kids you have to start teaching them how to do it. Today we will talk about, how to get your kids to help around the house. By teaching them this simple trade you will be able to help them in their lifes.

"Train up a child in the way he should go, and even when he is old he will not depart from it."
Proverbs 22:6

Let's get back to the book by Emily Barnes

"As a mother of five children under five years of age, at one time in my life it was easy to become overwhelmed and frustrated at trying to be Supermom. I needed help, and the help came from my family. I found a way to get my husband and children to help with the housework cheerfully. Even the toddlers helped.

Your children will benefit by one day becoming independent, responsible adults who are pleased with their accomplishments. So make the housework fun, give clearly defined directions, keep the jobs realistic, and avoid criticism. Above all, praise,prase, prase!

I wrote the jobs that they could do on individual pieces of paper and put them in a basket. Then they got to choose two ot three jobs from that basket once a week. These jobs went onto a Daily Work Planner Chart (we will talk about that later), which was posted. When hobs each day were completed they were marked with an"X" and a happy face of a sticker. By the end of the week the chart was full of marks; each child used a different-colored marking pen, and each loved to see his or her color appear often. Rewards came at the end of the week, with lots of praise!

Toddlers respond well to marks on a chart, and teens like to work on a point system. (So many poits per job; add them up on Saturday and reward accordingly.) When our children got into junior high school, even their friends wanted their names on our Work Planner Chart. Why? Because we had a well-defined plan, we made it fun, and they were rewarded.

If you want your children to grow up believing that the mess belongs to the person who made it, don't teach them that they are helping mommy. Instead, applaud them for making their bedm dressing themselves, and putting their clothes away. Praise your children for keeping their room neat and putting their toys away. Thank them for doing a good job because they are such good workers. Help them to feel good about being a part of a family effort. Then they will learn that they are part of a family team in which each person contributes and each person appreciates the other.

Have the mindset that the child's room belongs to the child. Teach your children from an early age (one, two, three years old) to be responsible for their own clothes, bed, laundry, and toys. This way they will find out early that if they wish to live in a neat and clean room they will have to do the work themselves.

You ask, "What if they like to live in a mess?" You are still the winner because you are spered the time, energy, stress, and aggrabation of doing it all.

At an early age, when they make their bed praise them for it! Praise will get you everywhere, and they'll want to do it again and again.

When they're ready to put away their toys, have boxes, bins, or low shelves available for them to use. Let them do it their own way, arranged by them and not you. Provide low hooks so they can hang their own sweaters, hammies, and jackets. Whenever possible, make a game of putting these things away.

One mom installed a wooden pole that went from the gloor to the ceiling. Then she screwed cup hooks into the pole and sewed a plastic curtain ting onto each of the children's stuffed animals so the children could easily hang up their animals when were finished with them. This arrangement also provided a creative decorator item, and the cildren loved hooking their teddy bears to the pole.

Make the chores fun and games. The children will want to work if you make it a happy time!

A toddler can set the table. Make a placemat out of paper and draw the shapes of the fork, plate, spoon and glass. The child gets to put each item in its place. Soon Susie or Timmy will want to set the talbe for everyone.

Let them play policeman or trashman. Give them a pillowcase to pick up toys, trash, and papers around the house and even in the yard.

Toddlers can feel important this way and can learn to like the feeling of work. congratulations are in order for a job well done!

Help your child dress independently. Keep solid bottoms in a low drawer with printed tops. If you buy coordinates, any top will go with any bottom. Even a young child can choose what to wear withing reason and limitations.

Avoid uncomfortable or difficult clothing. If you want to have children who can dress themselves, they certainly can't cple with tight collars or fancy buttons. Snaps and loose tops help them not to feel frustrated. The Velcro used on shoes today is great for little fingers and make the children feel proud of themselves as they put on their own shoes.

Yes, children can learn to love to do their fair share around the house!"

By Emily Barnes

This was chapetr #19 in the book.

Helping kids to learn how to clean in the house could be the big deal for you. You will have more time for other things. One of the things that I did for kids is I arranged the toy room and took pictures of it. Then we play a game "Match the Picture" they get to race to see who will finish first with their picture. It's fun and game for us to clean the house. We race to get our rooms cleaned faster and better, we have fast music on and have fun!

I hope that this will help you and your kids get closer with each other as well. By doing this together you are spending more time with them and teaching them things at the same time. I'm all for praise, but I make corrections as well. I tell them when they have to correct thing and do them better next time around. They srtive to profection and they want the rewards!

Blessings to all of you and your kids,