Struggling With Kids To Get Chores Done In The Home?

Here’s a Guide To Motivate Them And Make Tasks Enjoyable

Building independent children and encouraging them to do their chores is extremely important to give them a sense of responsibility.

Which is easier said than done. Getting children to do the chores is a common argument that you would hear in almost every family.

You shout at your kid “You’ve not cleaned your room yet?”, while your kid stays sitting on the couch busy on the phone screen, shouts back, “I’ll do it later”. Sometimes, they just don’t say anything and just ignore you.

This is a common scene in almost every house with kids. But the reason why kids do not like doing their chores is the same as why we don’t like doing them.

Simply put, household chores are boring, and children are not mature like us to accept their responsibility, finish their tasks, and get back to their fun.

Instead, they tend to procrastinate and avoid doing the task that they do not enjoy. They simply do not understand the appropriate consequences for not doing chores.

With that being said, what’s the solution? What you can do to motivate your children and encourage them to do their chores without nagging? Here’s a guide that can help.

Steps To Get Your Children To Do Chores

If you constantly find yourself nagging your children to do the household chores, here are a few practical steps that you can take.

Create A Chores Structure

Structuring the household chores is essential for having them completed, by the kids and also by the adults as well. There should be a set time on which chores must be done first and at what time.

Evenings are often the best time to do the chores, as kids are often busy with their school work during the day. However, during vacations, give them chores that they can finish early so that they can have all day to enjoy and do what they want.

Before they start their electronics or video games, make sure that their bed is made, their clothes are in place, and their room is tidy. With this, they start learning that they have to complete their duties before they can have their free time.

You are not pulling your kids back from their favorite activity to do something boring and mundane. Rather, you are asking them to work through something boring to achieve something exciting.

When children know that they will get something exciting after completing the task, they will readily get it done as soon as possible. With such a structure in place, kids would choose to complete their chores quickly and continue with their favorite things.

Finally, choose chore ideas for child age without giving any time limits. While your 11-year-old is disposing of the garbage, your 15-year-old can be asked to unload the dishwasher.

That way, no one will feel missed out or being screwed to complete the tasks. It’s a chore time for all.

Eliminate The Distractions

If your children do not understand the approach of being responsible, simply eliminate whatever is distracting them. More often than not, this usually means turning off the electronics, commonly the television and mobile phone.

Tell them that they are not going to come back until they finish their chores.

Talk to them about it briefly, then ask them what they think is going on. Try to find out what’s distracting them from doing their assigned tasks. Find out what they plan to do after finishing their chores.

Motivate them to do the work quickly so that they can continue doing what they wanted. Instead of giving them a lecture on duty and responsibility, appealing to their self-interest would be more effective.

Use Money As Leverage

If you are financially capable, it’s worth tying dollars to the tasks and using them as rewards for doing chores.

Set an allowance your child is entitled to get at the end of the week. If you have to tell your children to do a chore more than once, they will lose a part of their allowance, perhaps a dollar.

Each time you remind them, they lose another dollar. If another sibling does the task instead, he/she gets that dollar. With this method, you do not work on the chore, but on the communications process and your kids’ motivation.

Set Time Limits For The Chores

Setting a time limit is a good way to encourage your child to complete the chore within that time. For instance, you might say “Make the bed in 15 minutes, then play your mobile game till 10 pm, after which you have to go to bed”.

When your kids’ bedtime is already set to 10 pm, they will get less time to play if they do not make the bed in 15 minutes. In this way, there will be a cost that they have to pay if they do not complete the assigned task in time.

The best thing about this system is that you won’t need to nag anymore.

Instead, you just keep a watch on time. If they did not complete the task in time today, tomorrow they will automatically rush to do the task, so that they can enjoy their favorite activity for longer.

Select appropriately how many chores are age-appropriate and assign accordingly. Another strategy related to time can be to motivate your kids to compete with themselves.

Give them a challenge by saying “Let’s see, can you make your bed in 10 minutes tonight”.

You may also incentivize them by allowing them to stay awake or staying online for 10 minutes more. Such a challenge can make the task more stimulating and exciting for the kids.

While the kids won’t lose anything if they do not do the task, they will get a reward if they do.

Give Away Rewards

To encourage your kids to realize their responsibility and do the chores, integrate a reward system in their assigned tasks. Make a chart and enlist all the chores assigned to each child.

Whenever they complete a task, put a tick mark against it. When they collect five tick marks, they receive a reward.

It can be in the form of the child’s favorite treat, an extra hour of staying up in the night, or 30 more minutes of screen time.

The idea is to make your kids understand that doing household chores is part of being a family member.

If they get a reward for it, they become more enjoyable, and gradually tasks become a part of their everyday routine. However, it’s important to choose a reward that matters to them.

Focus on one chore at a time and keep changing rewards for each task to break the monotony.

Don’t Give Chores As Punishment

The chores should never be used as punishments. If your child misbehaves or makes a mistake, don’t give them a punishment to do the dishes.

Your child must take the chores as a responsibility and not as a consequence. However, it’s fine to use the chore as a punishment if one child does something wrong to his/her sibling.

To amend the wrong, the bully has to finish the chores of the victim.

In the below sections, you will come to know how to make chores fun, so that your kids can enjoy doing them instead of pouting.

Tips To Make Chores Fun For The Kids

Chores are drudgery for children as well as parents. Do you wish to make chores less grind? What if chores aren’t just chores?

It is a fact that when work turns into a fun activity, it becomes more efficient and results in better quality work.

Chores are strong points of disagreement for kids and parents. But you can help your kids to learn to work more cheerfully and taking joy and pride in their work by making chores fun.

Kids feel more motivated when they work with their parents and feel engaged in the process.

They learn to work harder and accomplishing bigger tasks by watching their parents do them and getting an experience.

The best approach is to work with them, then work alongside them, and finally asking them to do it alone while applying their own skills.

Following Are A Few Effective Easy To Make Chores Fun

Crank Up The Music:

Dancing or singing happy tunes can make a big difference in everyone’s mood while doing the chores.

Turn on some feel-good, motivational music and see everyone dance around. Use the broom like a microphone and vacuum with the music beats.

Sometimes, enthusiasm goes to the next level when they sing and dance to fun songs.

There must be songs associated with the chore you are doing. There may be songs talking about working together and teamwork.

Sometimes, it may be a completely silly and nonsense song that just fills up your kids with energy.

Let Them Do What They Enjoy:

If your kids are more movie fans or anime lovers, there’s no reason why they can’t complete their tasks and at the same time do what they enjoy.

While they are washing dishes, folding the clothes, or organizing the cupboard, play their favorite show and let them enjoy it.

Even before you know it, your work will be done and everyone will be happy.

Add Some Cuter Cleaning Tools:

That old and boring broom and mop will probably make your kids eager enough to start whipping the house. however, investing in some cuter cleaning tools can go a long way in making cleaning fun and exciting.

Wearing ruffled cleaning gloves or using a cute dustpan set may just make them feel happier while polishing up space.

Give them some cute aprons to wear, so that they can get into the mood and do it fast.

Bring On The Competition:

This trick works exceptionally well if there is more than one child in your house.

Split the task into equal parts among the kids, announce the competition, and watch them go wild overdoing their errands.

Include Story Telling During Boring Chores:

Certain chores, like folding the laundry and washing the dishes are mindless and boring. These tasks consume time, but you do not need to use much brain in them.

So, while you ask your kids to do such monotonous chores, include some fun activity in them like storytelling. Either tell them an interesting story or ask them to tell one.

These can be good times to create a bond with your kids too, as you may ask your kids to tell you what happened at school today or tell them how did you spend your day.

Chatting while doing the chores makes the job several times more fun.

Turn The Chore Into A Game:

One great idea is to make it a sport. Ask your child to pick up all the clothes from around the house and toss them into the laundry basket like a basketball.

Allow them to make their basket from their back, through their legs, or while spinning. It would be fun to watch your kids genuinely enjoy the task.

Ask Them To Beat The Clock:

Young kids can start out more gracefully when you timed them for doing chores.

Work along with your kids and set a time limit within which both of you have to complete the chore. Say “Let’s set the timer and see how quickly we can gather the toys. Let’s go!”

Rush around the house and make strategies like “I’ll pick up the cars, you get the Legos!” When the task is complete, tell them the time in which you did it today, and tomorrow you will try to beat that time.

Ask For Their Service:

Kids love offering their service to others. They would happily wipe off the wet garden slides that others can use.

Give them the task of creating, writing, and coloring birthday or get-well cards for friends and family.

Ask them to wrap all Christmas presents or open them with kiddie scissors. This will not only give value to their contribution but also hone their fine motor skills.

Ask them to put muffins in the holders while baking, spray water on the table and then wipe it off, squirt ketchup on everyone’s plate, serve fries with tongs, etc.

All these are tasks that require kids’ service and children also find them enjoyable.

Make It Quick:

Children like races, as beating others in time makes them feel like a winner. While doing chores as well, distribute chores, and ask them to race Mom & Dad.

Set a kind of wager that makes them the winner in all situations, whether they win or they lose.

Tell them “If you win the race, you get a chance to pick your favorite treat, but if I win, I play Legos with you to give myself a break.

Don’t give away the prizes until both of you complete the chores.

Take Fun Breaks In between Huge Chores:

Lawn mowing and gardening are some of the biggest chores that households have to deal with.

On hot summer days, weeding the garden and mowing the grass is one of the worst things anyone likes doing. However, such tasks become acceptable when kids are given intermitting fun breaks and interchanging them with a shower in the sprinkler.

Find what your kids like to do in the garden, and interchange the chore with that activity now and then.

Set specific periods or a certain number of tasks, after which you and your kids can take a break, enjoy for a few minutes, and then go back to work.

Change The Chores Regularly:

No matter how hard you try to make the chores fun and enjoyable, kids get bored with them over time.

.Most parents that the kids enjoyed the competition and the sport they created initially, but not anymore. Assigning chores to each child individually can make them predictable.

With this, they already know what they have to do in the house without all the nagging and reminding, but it becomes monotonous when it becomes a routine. It tends to lose its charm and gradually loses value.

How you can deal with monotony? The secret is to switch up chores regularly. Assigning new tasks and making new games with your kids will keep things new and retain enthusiasm.

Final Thoughts

Getting your kids to do household chores can be a battle, but you should never allow it to become one.

Standing by your kids telling them to do the tasks over and over again, may cause more problems. They might dig their heels in even deeper and still not comply.

As a parent, if you don’t end the battle early, you will stay in a constant nagging cycle. These types of cycles never seem to work, without causing more complications.

So, instead of nagging, use the tips mentioned above to put an end to it once and for all.

Don’t forget to thank them after chores are done, this will make them feel like their contribution matters to you.

They will feel like they did something meaningful that you appreciate. While you teach them that the awesomeness of life, they need to understand that chores can also be fun!