As a stay at home mom to 3 boys, some may think it is all fun and adventures. WRONG! We definitely like to do fun things, but it is all about balance.
My boys are 5, 5, and 7 and they have been doing chores for a while now. They love when I play with them and know if they help with chores, I will be able to play sooner. We have taught them doing chores is a way to help the family. Here are some tips I have found helpful.
Start Young
Around the age of 2, my boys started picking up their own toys. Each of our toy bins have pictures on the outside so when they got older, they could match the toy with the picture. Another thing we do is after story time, my littles would put the books away.
I even had my boys helping with laundry. They put their own dirty clothes in their basket and would help throw them in the shoot when the basket was full.
Keep the chore simple/age-appropriate
Our oldest is the trash man. I think he loves this task because it shows how big his muscles are! When the cans are full he takes them out to the big cans AND when the big cans are empty at the curb, he brings them back to the garage.
When they were younger, we had them be the shoe organizers. They would be responsible for matching the shoes and putting them in their cubbies.
Find what works for your family
A fun chart or reward may work best for your kids. Depending on the age of your kid, stickers or coins might be a fun incentive. As kids get older, maybe start an allowance. If my boys do a good job, we do one-on-one date nights, or one boy gets to stay up later than the others. Another idea is letting the child pick the movie during family movie night. It’s the little things that make them feel special.
Consistency = Routine
I try to keep the kids’ chores consistent with hopes it will become a habit. For example, they always empty the dishwasher. This is something they’ve been doing for a long time and now after breakfast they ask if it is dishwasher day.
At the beginning, they used to stack the dishes into a wonky tower . . .EK! Since then, I take the time to explicitly show each boy how to do their chore and make it part of their daily activities.
Every night before bedtime stories, the boys pickup their toys. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but a nightly clean-up is routine.
Have fun and Celebrate a job well done
Our dishwasher has 3 drawers and there are 3 boys – so they rock, paper, scissors to see who gets to unload what drawer. When we have family game night, sometimes the winner gets one day of no chores! They love this!! Another thing I do is to see how fast they can pick up their toys off the floor when I turn on our Robot vacuum. With three boys, making chores fun and competitive works for us!
