Dividing household chores

From WikiParenting

Having an organized chore system is important to keep any household running smoothly. It is unfair when living with multiple people to expect one person to be responsible for all the work that is required to manage a family. Dividing up chores fairly between your partner and children will help to ease the load and, done properly and routinely, will help your home and lifestyle run in a more organized pleasant manner.

[edit] Benefits kids gain from chores

Kids who participate in household chores will benefit in many ways, such as:

• Gaining skills for later life
• Giving them a sense of achievement and pride
• Teaching them cause and effect (mess=cleaning up)
• Lets them understand that running a family is hard work
• Teaches them to respect what you as a parent do
• Teaches property respect

[edit] How to get started

Sit down and write a list of your daily chores, things you do every day:

• Vacuum
• Washing
• Dishes
• Dusting
• Making beds
• Folding
• Cooking
• Tidying up
• Bathroom

After you have finished pick out three or four (or more depending on the size of your family) jobs from your list and allocate them to a second list titled 'family jobs'.

[edit] Have a family meeting

Get your partner and kids together and tell them that you are going to be dividing the household chores up from now on and everyone is going to do their bit around the house. It is important not to ask or leave it up for discussion; this is what is happening and that is that. Show them the family job list and tell them that you will be allocating them a few daily jobs from that list everyday and they must be done.

[edit] Making it work

Every night tell your children what jobs you are giving them for the next day or write a weekly list and post it on the fridge, mix it up so the kids are doing different jobs every second or third day and set a time limit for the job to be completed either before or after school.

[edit] Gender bias

It is important not to allocate jobs based on gender. There is nothing wrong with boys doing the washing and girls taking out the garbage or washing the car and this will provide them with skills they will need as adults.

[edit] Toddlers and jobs

Toddlers can help as well and teaching them from a young age will be helpful later on things like:

• Picking up toys
• Dusting
• Putting dishes away
• Sweeping

Can all be done by young children, maybe not perfectly, but it instills a helpful attitude and the more they help the better they will get at it.

[edit] What not to add on the list

Things like:

• Making their own bed
• Tidying up their room
• Picking up their toys
• Putting dirty clothes in the laundry

These are all things that should just be done, not as a chore, but as a part of daily living.

[edit] When chores are not done

If your children fail to do their daily jobs and providing there is no sound reason (extra homework, sick) then they need to be reprimanded so they realize that the jobs need to be done. When your child does not complete the required chores for the day, you can take away privileges like television viewing time, computer privileges, or give them extra chores to be completed the following day.

[edit] Whole house clean

Set aside one day a fortnight for a total house clean involving the whole family. Jobs like

• Washing windows
• Cleaning out cupboards
• Organizing DVD's etc
• Tidying the garden
• Cleaning out the car
• Fixing broken or creaky doors
• Airing out mats and rugs

With everyone helping it will get done in no time at all and you could even maybe have a special takeaway dinner that night to reward everyone for their hard work.