-by Mimi Rothschild
Whether you’re brand new to home schooling, or you’re a veteran, you know how much work goes into each day. Between schoolwork, housework, and balancing the role of wife, mother and educator, it can be downright exhausting at times. So why not teach your children to be workers along with you? It will be a tremendous help to you, while also preparing them to be productive adults.
So how do you approach this task? Here are a few suggestions to get you started.
Start them early. Even toddlers can be taught to put away their toys, and the tasks can increase in difficulty with age. The point is instilling in a child early on the importance of tidying up after themselves and helping their parents and siblings will prove to be an invaluable skill later on in life.
Keep the tasks age appropriate. It’s ok to challenge a child to learn something new, but if you make his chores too many or too difficult, nobody benefits. Assigning each child one or two daily duties, such as making his or her bed or setting the dinner table, will teach them responsibility but won’t overwhelm them.
Communicate clearly. Some children can be told something just once, and they’re off and running. Others need to be reminded consistently before they finally understand what’s expected of them. Explain to your child, on their level, what it is you want them to do (in some cases even demonstrating for them) so that there is no confusion and the jobs get done correctly.
Hold them to high standards. It is unreasonable to expect a 7 year old to scrub a house until it’s spotless. But it is perfectly alright to expect him to be able to make his bed neatly. Training your child not only to do a job, but to do it well, will give him a sense of pride and accomplishment.
Reward them. The truth of the matter is the term “work” is most often associated with getting paid. You don’t necessarily have to give your child money for completing their chores or helping you with housework, but letting them have an ice cream after dinner for a job well done can go a long way. And never underestimate the power of simply telling a child what a good job they’ve done. Often a word of praise or encouragement is a far greater reward than money could ever be.
Find a system that works well with your family. Every family is different, as is every child. If your children prefer doing their assigned chores every day of every week of every year, great! Perhaps that order and consistency makes yours a happy and peaceful home. But you may find that rotating the duties every week or so among everyone might work better for your family, and will also help all of your children to become more well rounded. You ultimately have to determine what works best for your family, come up with a plan and implement it.
However you choose to introduce work into the family dynamic, it is almost certain that you and your children will be blessed by doing so.
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Mimi Rothschild is the Founder of LearningByGrace.org the nation’s leading provider of online PreK-12 online Christian educational programs for homeschoolers.