Household Chores for Children – a Guideline for Parents
by Fred Provenzano, Ph.D., NCSP University of Washington, Seattle http://familyshrink.com/areas-of-focus/parenting/household-chores-for-children/ 2011
For children to do or not do household chores? A big problem in many households is children and their household duties. Most parents don't know whether or not to push their children to do household chores or the positive effects that chores have on children. I thought this topic was very interesting because of the difference in opinions of many people. This article was full of knowledge and information that can help any teacher or educator when it comes to chores and duties. Chores teach children basic skills that they need in life. Involving children in chores at an early age will help them learn values, responsibility and appreciation that they can carry on throughout their life. But, if the tasks are too over whelming and not fit for their age or skill level, it can have a very negative effect on the child. Therefore, the child could then look at chores as something very difficult and make them not want to participate. When you first start out implementing chores in your child's life, you must start out short and simple. It may be time consuming at first, and it may be much faster for the parent to do it themselves but in the end its only putting a negative effect on your child. There are a few steps that caregivers can take to use to establish chores. Give them a chore that is an actual contribution. It is good to start out with a chore that can be done daily so they can get in a routine. Begin by assigning minimal chores and help guide them and remind them at first. Then as age, experience and skill level become greater, you can assign more. There are many questions as to whether or not you should pay children for the chores they do, and that choice is mostly up to the caregiver. It prepares the children for an outside job