Ways to involve children in house chores
Getting children to do chores at home can be challenging. Some give an excuse of stomach pain, others headache and some tell you, “Mummy I am still young.” Children can spend the day playing and take more than 40 minutes to wash one cup.
Some parents do not give children work at home because they think they are tiring them, they will get annoyed, they are still too young or because there is a maid who can do everything at home.
Josephine Abdallah, a teacher at a school in Dar es Salaam, says children should start work as early as three years.
Why children hate work
Evelyn Aisha, mother of two, believes children think work is boring. “When given work to do, they think about many interesting things they are missing out on and are just tied up by work. They find all possible means to dodge it.”
Abdallah says parents cause children to hate work. “When the mother tells a child to do something, the father opposes and the child will feel more protected and loved. So that child will never love work,” she explains.
In the same vein, ABdallah says regular assigning of all duties to maids does not show children the need to take part thus setting a bad example.
“Children think everything is supposed to be done by a maid so they can never do house chores even if you assign them,” she argues. Meanwhile Aisha believes children are not encouraged to take part. “Stopping children from doing chores when they attempt makes them lose morale for work and with time hate it completely,” she says.
What to do
Josephine Neema, a mother of four, says a parent especially mothers should be exemplary. “Take part in the household work even if you have a maid. Children learn more from their parents.” Assign age-appropriate chores. Let for instance, tweenagers wash utensils while their nine-year-old siblings rinse the crockery. This way you are promoting cooperation. If you give them heavy work they will be discouraged and dislike it.
Do chores together
No one knows automatically how to do housework; we need to learn. Doing chores with your child allows you to offer appropriate guidance and help. Give lots of positive feedback: “You made the sink sparkling clean! That looks so much better than it was!”
Working alongside you not only helps children develop skills, it also makes chores seem more tolerable. If all or at least some family members are pitching in at the same time, your child is less likely to feel individually persecuted by housework.
Make it part of routine
Chores can become habits when we do them at the same time every day or every week. Then routines help. When your children have put off their uniforms after school, then they can have a snack. When they have put their dishes in the dishwasher, then they can go and play.
“Make the chores part of the family routine, let the children learn that working is part of them and it has to be done, by this, they will be used and can work without difficulty,” Aisha says.
Reward efforts
Neema says to give them morale and motivate them by giving them treats such as ice cream, outing or anything that they love. “Do this once in a while because if they get used to it, they will refuse to work in case there is no prize,” she says.
Bottom line
Parenting expert Jim Fay, co-founder of the Love and Logic website, says we all need to feel needed and to know that we’re making a contribution even children. “But they can’t feel that way if they don’t have chores and make contributions to the family,” Fay says.
Roger W. McIntire, author of Raising Good Kids in Tough Times, says, “a child has to have some responsibilities.” Do not let your child stay idle, as they say, an idle mind is the devil’s temple.
Make sure your child is involved in activities that will keep his/her mind busy at all times. Eventually, they will get used to always having something to do.
Keeping your child busy will spare you from having to deal with a lot of problems that arise when a child is left with a lot of free time but little work to do.
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