If you’re not letting your children do house chores, probably the reason is that everything happens a lot faster and easier when you do it yourself. However, is that the right thing to do, or do children actually need to have their part in the housework.
Most people’s favorite activity is probably not doing chores, so don’t expect your children to be enjoying it and looking forward to it, but it’s important to have the patience until they learn how to help you.
What Do Household Chores Teach Your Kids
The fact that your children doing chores will provide you with extra spare time is far from being the only reason that it’s good for children to participate in housework. Actually, this process is vital for their development.
Teaching your kids how to do chores actually teaches them a lot more than you probably imagine.
Here are 7 reasons why you should teach your child to take part in household chores.
1. Teaches Them Life Skills
Doing even the simplest of household chores actually develops motor abilities, which is something that would affect the general development of your child. The earlier their body learns how to do such things, the better.
Otherwise, it would be harder for the child to learn to do chores as it grows up.
These life skills will stay with them forever and will help them further developing more complicated skills. For example, after they graduate from high school, your children will be well prepared on how to take care of themselves in college.
2. Boost Their Self-Confidence
One of the most important things in order to raise children with positive self-esteem is to give them praise for things that they have done well. That is why they actually need to be given small task to complete in order to feel good about themselves.
This actually makes the child feel important in the family, and as if its good actions are validated.
3. Teaches Them Responsibility
One crucial way to teach your children what taking responsibility means, is to require from them to clean their own mess when they make one. Of course, in the beginning they would lack the skills to do that, so that is exactly the right moment to teach them.
Children are not going to stop making a mess if all you do is complain that you are constantly going and cleaning after them. In the beginning, it is your responsibility to teach them to take responsibility.
Teaching your child to make its own bed or do its own laundry also teaches it to value his personal belongings and take care of them.
Of course, some there are different chores suitable for children of different ages, so it’s important to make sure that you are not asking them something that they are not physically able to do.
4. A Way to Teach them the Value of Money
A great way to motivate your children to do their chores is by providing them with pocket money in return. That could teach them what it means to earn your own money, and that they should put effort if they want to have nice things.
If you’ve decided to reward your children with pocket money, however, you should explain the rules very clearly, so that you avoid bargaining.
This reward system works, because it is a strong motivator, but it also teaches your child important lessons about life itself, which will give him great advantages in adulthood.
5. They Learn Teamwork
Doing the household chores together actually helps to build something as a family teamwork spirit, which is crucial for the future development of a teamwork skills in children. It teaches them empathy and trust, as well as providing help when someone needs it.
In case you have siblings, doing chores together could really help them learn to get along and take care of each other. Sometimes siblings tend to quarrel more than be nice to each other, so teaching them to help each other in the housework is a great way to make their relationship a more positive one.
6. A Bonding Experience
Believe it or not, doing chores could actually be turned into a fun and pleasant bonding family experience. Instead of treating housework as something boring, you could turn it into a game and you will see how that will motivate your children to take the initiative in the future.
7. Builds Self-Reliance
Not letting your kids participate in the housework, because it’s easier to do it yourself, will actually make them dependent on other people. Instead, if you teach them how to do chores, they will not be expecting their parents to do everything, and will be able in the future to do things by themselves.
Author: Brittany Robertson
I am a successful female blogger who has built a large following by sharing my personal experiences and insights on a wide range of… Read more
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