They are the gripes of every parent: a room strewn with toys, a floor caked with food, a child who refuses to clean them. Teaching children neatness can be tough, particularly when they're used to you cleaning up their messes. Give even your young child chores to build a sense of independence and responsibility - and to avoid those sticky scenarios you dread.
Share responsibility with your child. Getting your child involved with chores helps him to learn responsibility while gaining self-confidence and independence. You can teach your child to take responsibility for housework almost as soon as he is mobile, from putting his dirty clothes in the hamper to picking up his toys. Not only does this help you and your family in the short term-by keeping the house cleaner and saving you from taking full responsibility for every household chore-but it also helps your child learn responsibility and gain self-confidence. Your school-age child can begin to set or clear the table, fold laundry, dust, and help you around the house.
Make chores as rewarding and fulfilling for your child as possible. Turn chores into races and fun contests to decrease their drudgery. Change and add to the tasks your child does as he grows. If you give your child only the simplest, most tedious chores that you yourself would prefer not to do, he will never gain a good attitude toward helping around the house.
After your child learns what to do, offer limited help when your child needs it and asks you politely, not when he asks for help to procrastinate or duck responsibility.
Do some chores in tandem, such as folding clothes together.
Let your child become an expert. Give him a few chores he learns to do very well and praise him with abandon.
Impose some deadlines. Weekly chores sometimes stretch into biweekly, even monthly tasks when your child procrastinates. Make a rule that all dishes in the sink must be cleaned or put in the dishwasher before new ones come out, homework must be done before the TV comes on, and dusting always happens before lunch on Saturday.
Enlist your child's help while he watches TV by handing him dishtowels or socks to fold, or by asking him to put toys away during the commercials.
Encourage your child to do a little tidying every day. Ten minutes each weekday picking up his toys will save you from a cleaning marathon on weekends.
Approach chores with a spirit of fun, and don't expect perfection.
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