Thursday 3 August 2017

Today's Wobbles of Wisdom on Kids

Make your kids do chores and look away
Kids doing chores is every parent's holy grail. However, as a parent, you might also realize that kids doing chores actually means doubling your work, since their "finished" chores probably made things worse. For example, cleaning the table after meals. They might be spreading the mess everywhere while "cleaning", and if you watch them, you will end up doing 1 of 2 things: Take over, or criticize them on doing a poor job. Neither of which will help your kids learn to do the chores properly.

So what I find works best is this:
  1.  Give them a chore
  2. Walk away until they are done
  3. Check on their work
  4. Praise them for the fact that they've completed the chore
  5. Give them helpful tips on how to do it better next time
Notice that I bolded NEXT TIME?  Well the trick is to make them repeat the chores.  That way they will learn that it's part of a routine and hopefully (fingers crossed) that they will do the chore without you asking them!

You will find that suddenly there's a little less housework to do, even though your dining table might not be the spotless, or dishes might not be stacked perfectly in the dishwasher, but hey, I will take it!

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