Chores are an excellent way to teach children accountability and basic life skills. They can’t always rely on you to do their cooking and cleaning and will slowly need to learn how to do so for themselves. Instead of throwing them straight in the deep end, start small by getting them to make their bed and put their toys away. This will help them to develop organisational skills and make cleaning up seem less daunting. Other than the obvious reasons, here’s why chores are beneficial for children in their development.
Team Work
As well as sharing the load, chores teach children about team working. It’s not fair for one person to do all the cleaning whilst others leave it a mess. This can encourage them to clean up after themselves and teach them to keep to their promises.
Time Management
Chores are additional responsibilities that they will need to meet, so outside of school they will need to manage their time effectively so that they can get their homework done, chores and anything else.
Understanding and Appreciation
There’s also the fact that they are able to get a taste of what adults do on a regular basis. This can help them to develop an appreciation for what you do as their parent and understand what it’s like to live independently.
Personal Hygiene
Following on from the point above, they ensure that they will be able to take care of themselves and develop healthy habits for the future. Cleanliness is important for maintaining good personal hygiene and so if it’s something that you’re concerned about, start with phasing in some chores.
Rewards
Another thing to mention are rewards. To encourage your child to actively participate in cleaning around the house, look at implementing a reward system. In turn your house will be sparkling clean, and you will have taught your child about the importance of hard work.
