No one wants to live in a workhouse, where people are tense because of the list of rules. A home is a place to be comfortable and relaxed. In saying that, to achieve a comfortable atmosphere, housework needs to be done. It’s about finding the balance between making your ’house work’ without it becoming a ‘work house’.
I was chatting to the lovely Amanda from Bodelicious about encouraging children to do housework. If you haven’t already read The B Team post, start there, as it’s a good foundation. Once you’ve established the fact that housecleaning is every one’s responsibility, it needs be practical.
These are the main principals I can see in relation to encouraging housework:
* Create a team spirit in your family.
* Establish the fact that housecleaning is every one’s responsibility.
* Show your child/ren how to do the job; don’t just expect them to know.
* Increased responsibility = Increased privileges (appropriate to age).
* Be firm and consistent.
I was interested in Amanda’s system of having a ’do to’ list in each room. I’ve adapted these lists and you can print them out below if you think the system would work in your house. The advantage of this system is it gives everyone a clear idea of things to do and is easy to find. Who does what will depend on the age of your child/ren. There are five sheets: Living Area, Kitchen, Bedroom, Bathroom and Toilet. The sheets could be laminated and reused with a wipe-off pen. Click on the image to print out all five sheets.
You may need to use trial and error to see what sort of system works for your family.
More Free templates.
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Here are some helpful blog posts on this subject.
SquiggleMum’s Helping Hands - See how Cath manages to do housework with two young children in the house.
Julie’s Under 30 Minutes - See how Julie manages to do only 30 minutes of housework a day.
Michelle’s Putting Kids to Work- Read how Michelle gradually introduced housework to her children in 5 stages.
Click here to see Michelle’s schedule for her son aged nine.
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If you are looking for routine reward charts I like these companies:
Little Billies - Wide range of charts. Especially good for young children.
Magnetic Moves - Wide range of charts. Especially good for school aged children.
Sunny Mummy Magnets - Family organisation made easy.
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Cool printout sheets Kelly. You could laminate them too, for easy write-on / wipe-off use each week! (Thanks for the link love…)
Great Post!
I just talked with my son WIlls(8) this morning. I asked him to take the vacuum cleaner and get rid of the crumbs for breakfast. While he was busy there and while I was cleaning up brekky, I described to him the room to room lists … and asked him his opinion. He said he didn’t like it. We reckon that the lists might make the job seem onerous. Colin
I think it’s great you talked to you son about what work for you family Colin. It’s a personal thing. What works for one family may not work for another. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Kelly
My 3 (nearly 4) year old has simple reponsibilities such as putting his dirty clothes in the laundry and clearing away his plate/cup after meals along with packing away his toys. Every now and then he gets excitied and volunteers to ‘wipe’ things. We are moving house in a few weeks and when we have settled in I will be increasing his responsibilities, not sure what they will be yet but as it’s just the two of us I’m sure it will be more fun if we can get ‘our’ jobs out of the way and have more time to do things together.
Will have a look at the links you have included for ideas, thanks!
Thanks for the link Kelly.
I love the “B-team” concept. We have friends with older children than us (eldest is in high-school), who always make a big deal about being the “H_ family” (e.g. “the H’s do it this way”, “this is the H’s fun day” etc). I always thought that was a great idea to help build a sense of family identity and belonging, and now, reflecting on your post, I see it also helps to build a sense of family responsibility.
I like the idea of the room chart and I think my daughter will too as she gets a little older (I think she is very similar to her mummy in liking routine and order – so far at least). I’ll have to wait and see what my son is like.
My son is still quite young at 8, but can see that we are all a team. If my wife and I are busy clearing up stuff, it means we’ve got less direct time for him. I would like to see him assume more work around the house as he grows up.
But the truth is if I tip the balance and give him too much work, he’ll resent it … children just find it hard to understand why we need to such menial work until they either 1) take ownership and are house proud, or 2) are just fastidious about cleanliness and orderliness (Wills is a little like this).
There might be some value in introducing an incentive for the tick sheet you’ve come up with — a line of tick boxes at the base, once completed allows the child a budget to buy something they’d like.
Colin
So great Kell! Thanks for sharing! I think my almost 4 missy is ready for this yay! Will print them all off now
Kate, I hope the move goes well for you and that your little man is great help! He seems to already be doing so well!
And great to see a Dad on here! Thank you for sharing your thoughts Colin.
So this is just my opinion based on how I was raised and am attempting to raise my 3. And I completely agree with you Kell – each family has it’s own system and is entitled to their own opinion
I think a reward system can be good if doing jobs outside everyday living chores. For example, washing windows each holiday (something I grew up doing and getting pocket money for!). But as for making the bed, putting dirty clothes in the basket, etc., they are skills for life that we as humans just have to learn. Rewarding them with praise and the satisfaction of accomplishing something for themselves, instills valuable qualities.
So with my children, I have tried to set a foundation of tidiness/cleanliness from even younger than 1 of ‘when you’re done with something you put it away’ before you get out your next toy/activity. Granted, some days you have the ‘We’ll just pick it all up once at the end of the day’ mentality like if you’re in and out of the house or have friends over – but at the end of the day, it’s all together. But something so simple as this from such a young age, makes later on not seem so daunting when more tasks are introduced.
Love that we can share and discuss on your blog Kell. Thank you xo
I love reading all your comments peoples! Thanks for your perspective.
Kelly
Great post Kelly (as usual
) Thanks so much for the link too! x
I try to keep it simple. On a clean up day, usually Sat I put up 6 jobs on the white board with a blank spot for the kids to sign up. I have three boys at home (7,11,15). They each have to pick two. First up gets the best choices, thats usually my youngest – Timmy. Having some ownership to the job I thnk helps.