Kids and Chores: Easy Ways to Get Them Done

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Kids and chores. For my family and me, those two words haven’t always gone together in perfect harmony. As the mom of 4, who has been raising kids for over 15 years, I have gone through much trial and error in this area.

First, let’s start with WHY.

I grew up doing chores. Of course, that’s not the reason I feel my kids or yours, should be doing chores, but I must say it did have a big impact on my upbringing. Today I am grateful for the lessons learned as I raise my own kids.

My mom will tell you that she had me making my own bed and helping her with the dishes when I was 3 years old.

Of course, I don’t exactly remember that. What I do remember is when I was a bit older and waking up each Saturday morning with a handwritten list already waiting for me on the kitchen counter.

To say I wasn’t exactly the most thrilled person is an understatement.

Of course, I was in charge of my own basic personal areas but then I was blessed with the chore of cleaning the toilet in the bathroom **ugh**.

I shared a bathroom with my sister and 2 brothers **double ugh**.

I was also in charge of ironing my dad’s button-down shirts that he wore to work daily. My dad was a small business owner, which means he worked 7 days a week. He has A LOT of shirts to iron.

Now I know ironing shirts doesn’t sound as horrible as having to clean the toilet after your siblings.

Did I just mention that 2 of them were tween and teen boys? I just wanted to make sure everyone caught that.

Back to ironing, there was one specific day I remember.

My dad had a bunch of clean shirts that were in the laundry room needing to be ironed for the next week.

Ironing was on my list. Therefore, I was in the basement ironing my dad’s shirts… all while my siblings were outside on a hot summer day swimming in our pool.

I was so mad.

I must have ironed 50 shirts that day, maybe 20, but, it was a lot.

All I could think about were my siblings laughing and having a great time while I was in a cold basement ironing someone else’s clothes.

Major Cinderella Syndrome.

Can you believe I still recall this memory and feeling 30+ years later?

So what GOOD could possibly come from an experience like that?

RESPONSIBILITY

By my parents not allowing me to wiggle out of it showed me the importance of responsibility, being a part of a team, being a part of a family.

This was an item on my to-do list. If it didn’t get done then my dad wouldn’t have shirts to wear to work. And, trust me, no one wanted to deal with the potential downfall of that.

Yes, he could have done it himself or my mom could have, but then what would that have taught me? It would have taught me that they weren’t serious and I could get away with whatever I wanted to.

TODAY

The seed of responsibility was planted all those years ago. It is in my DNA. I did not enjoy learning it at the time but am forever grateful for it as I have grown up.

I now get to pass on the lesson of responsibility to my own children. Even if they think of me as “Cinderella’s wicked stepmother”.

GOAL SETTING AND TIME MANAGEMENT

• How many shirts do I need to iron?
• How long does a typical shirt take to iron?
• Take that x 20 shirts.
• What time is it now?
• What time will it be when my feet hit that water?

I obviously wasn’t going to be able to get out of this task so how could I get it over with as quickly as possible? Let the story problem and math begin.

TODAY

This lesson has also blessed my life now as I am raising kids of my own. Not only am I teaching time management skills and priority management to my kids but I am also improving my own.

How?

As the kids have become more efficient with their chores and responsibilities, it has taken much more off of my plate. Which in turn, gives me more time to focus on my own personal and professional productivity.

Check out this post here on great time management tips!

A STORY

Speakings of story problems… I have used this story to solve many problems, friends. Trust me.

What I thought was literally the end of my world back then has proven to be a fantastic teaching tool for my own children.

Anytime these kiddos of mine try to tell me something is unfair or how they don’t want to do their chores because it’s nice outside and they want to play, I go straight back to that story.

Done and done. Convo ovah!

Thanks, Mom!

TODAY

As I am using these stories of my past to teach my children, they too are building up stories to use to teach theirs.

There is a fantastic article here for the 7 reasons why kids should do chores.

4 WAYS TO ENCOURAGE KIDS AND CHORES:

1.CHARTS

When it comes to kids and chores, I have found the younger they are the more effective the chore charts are. It is easy to get little ones excited about using a chart.

Showing them how to do a job, going over to the chart, putting a checkmark in the box, it’s like magic.

STICKERS: I don’t know what it is about stickers but my 3-year-old daughter will basically do anything for a new sticker. Then to have it on a chart that is hanging up for everyone to see, is next level.

Stickers don’t quite have the same flare for my older kids, as they once did.

Therefore, we simply made customized to-do lists for each child.

The lists contain their daily items in one section. Then we listed their weekend chores in a separate area but included them into one page for easy reference.

We had them laminated so they could easily use dry-erase markers for easy writing and cleaning each week.

If you want something that is much more fun and cuter than my super basic and plain google doc then definitely get this FREE Download!!

This is a very simple way to get started organizing your kids and chores.

2.CLEANING SUPPLIES

The Littles:

All of my kids, yes even my boys, have loved having their own cleaning supplies! It makes them feel like they are working just like mom and dad. The more you can make them feel included the more cooperative they’ll become.

When it’s time for chores my 3-year-old daughter has zero issues grabbing her broom, mop, spray bottle and to getting to work.

Here’s what she uses:

Melissa & Doug Let’s Play House! Dust! Sweep! Mop! The Original Pretend Play Cleaning Set 

Melissa & Doug Spray, Squirt & Squeegee Play Set

The Bigs:

Now that my boys are older, it’s important for me to keep stocked supplies in designated areas that’s easy for them to grab and go.

If they don’t know where things are located or if products are empty it gives them more of an excuse to not do the work.

For example, in their bathrooms, all the cleaning supplies, paper towels, and washcloths are located under the sink.

One of my sons is in charge of restocking all paper towel rolls, toilet paper, and wipes each week. He knows all of those are located in the hallway closet.

Another son takes care of the garbage. He knows all of the bags are located in the stairwell.

All items are easy to find and easy to use.

It is up to them to tell me when items are running low on any items or products so I can stock up for the next week. (I also do random checks during the week to make sure they didn’t miss telling me.)

I have always used Amway Home products which are free of ammonia, chlorine, and other harsh chemicals. These products are also dermatologist-tested.

Using these products has brought a ton of peace into my life. I never worried if they got into them when they were little or now with a possible mishap ie using the bathroom cleaner as a weapon while cleaning. #boysbeingboys

If you would like more information on the Amway Home Cleaning line, please post a comment below or DM me on Instagram @thereallifemo.

3.DISCIPLINE

Maybe your kids listen to everything you ask them to do the first time you ask them, but for the rest of us, there are levels of discipline.

Here are a few:

FINDERS KEEPERS

If it was chore day and we were supposed to be working, my mom would take much joy in picking up stuff that was left lying around, packing it up in a bag, and throwing it away. No joke.

I found myself digging through the garbage to retrieve my stuff more times than I would like to admit.

When she found money in our clothes while she was doing the laundry (that we were supposed to be doing) she would take it and put it in a jar labeled “Mom’s Laundry Money”.

It just sat there, taunting us.

“Yes, your money is in here, but don’t even think about touching it.”

She taught us quickly to check our pockets before throwing anything in the hamper. I still check to this day.

As the boys have gotten older, I have joyfully implemented these techniques into my family.

THE TAKEAWAY

Cellphone and video game confiscation are great motivating factors.

This one is usually very effective.

For the little ones, it’s more of a teaching opportunity. I simply explain why we need to do chores and clean up after ourselves.

For my 3-year-old, who doesn’t give me much of a hard time, all I need to do is mention that I’m taking her stickers and that pretty much does it. The full cooperation mode is here.

However, if you are dealing with full out defiance (I have one of those, too) then you need to follow through on your method of discipline.

Time out. Spanks. Taking things away. Whatever you have chosen as your method, you MUST follow through.

Your kiddos are smart and will quickly pick up on empty threats. When you say you are going to do something, do it. This teaches them that your word is your bond.

It’s easy to throw out a threat just to try to diffuse the situation, emotions can get the best of us. Just make sure you are willing to follow through on what you just said.

I caution you to make sure the punishment fits the crime.

Everyone has personal choices for discipline. Here are some of my personal recommended resources:

Article: Smart Punishments for Kids

Book: Train Up Your Child

4.MONEY

My husband and I had an ongoing joke when someone would ask us how we handle “allowance”. Our immediate response was “they don’t get paid to live here, they are ‘allowed’ to live here”.

Get it? Allowed? Allowance?

Anyway, we thought it was hilarious. Until…

…our boys entered their teenage years and wanted to buy stuff of their own. We would tell them they needed to earn it. They were like, how? And… we didn’t have a response.

Our boys participate in sports at a high level. We’ve discussed in the past that they wouldn’t need to get jobs while in high school because their “job” was to get good grades in school and work hard in their chosen sport.

That’s it. They do that, we will cover the rest. We painted ourselves into a corner.

We were telling them they didn’t need to get jobs, but on the other hand, we weren’t going to pay them based on their work at home. Hmmm. I needed to find a solution.

Enter Greenlight*

We came across this fantastic system. It not only helps us organize the kid’s chores into lists, which are shared between parents and children, but it also helps teach them to be financially smart.

The kids learn first-hand in 4 key areas of finances: earning, saving, spending, and giving.

How? It’s their money and they can see it grow or disappear based on their decisions.

So many great conversations and teaching moments have been had since giving them the “Greenlight”.

Within the first couple of weeks, one of my sons had purchased a new laptop, all on his own. He is so proud of himself, as he should be because he earned it.

It was wonderful to walk through that process together and teach him along the way.

*This is NOT a sponsored post. Just something I’m really excited about and has worked out so well for our family.

WRAP UP

Over 15 years of raising 4 children, 3 of whom are boys, there has been a lot of trial and error in the area of kids and chores. The ideas above are what we have found work out well for this large family.

However, I always highly recommend doing research to choose what systems will work best for you and your family when it comes to kids and chores. There’s a solution for everyone.

So, tell me in the comments below what system you use that you have found effective for kids and chores.

What questions do you have? What tips will you be implementing into your family?

Let me know, I’d love to hear.

xoxo,

Mo

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