Do your kids help you out with household chores? If they don’t, then you should motivate them to do so. It will have far more long-term benefits than you think.

Apart from the obvious benefits to you, helping out with household chores actually have a lot of benefits for kids too.

Kids will learn about the value of responsibility. Teach your child the value of taking responsibility early. This way, he/she will not grow up with this inate desire to ‘pass the bucket’.

Prevents boredom and overall laziness. A lot of parents look at their children and wonder why they are just so lazy. Well, guess what? One of the main reasons for this is because they were never taught to ‘work’. Everything is done for them and everything is handed on a silver platter. On the other hand, if you teach your child the value of accomplishing ‘tasks’, then he/she will grow up thinking that ‘taking action’ is the only way to achieve something.

Keeps them grounded. We all complain about how the world has become too individualistic and materialistic. If you involve your child with household chores at an early age, your kid will learn the value of keeping his feet on the ground.

Bonding time! Doing household chores together is excellent bonding time. Use it to not just be together physically but as a time for real communication with your child. If you start this early, there’s a good chance your child will not lock himself into a room and not share anything with you during those dreaded teenage years.

Ok, so now you know the BENEFITS of motivating your child to help out at home but HOW do you accomplish this exactly?

First of all, ASK, don’t shout. Issuing commands by yelling or issuing ultimatums (if you don’t do this… you won’t…) is not the way to motivate your child to help you.

Secondly, let your child choose the chore he/she wants to do. If your kid absolutely hates throwing the trash out, then it’s ok if he doesn’t want to do it… but there should be a chore to replace it. This way, youf kid feels a bit in control as opposed to just being bossed around. Your child won’t resent the task and you still managed to make him/her help you one way or the other.

Lastly, don’t do the chore for him/her. What can I say? Kids will be kids and sometimes they’ll try to maneuver out of a chore. If your child ‘forgets’ to do something, don’t do it for him. For instance, he forgot to fold the laundry, leave it for him to fold the following day.