I had always had responsibilities as a kid growing up. My mother had done an amazing job in teaching me life skills with the things I had to do. So when it came to having to move out of home for Uni, far away from her, I was grateful I could look after myself without a hitch! However, of coarse I can not remember what responsibilities I had as a toddler (although I’m sure I had some) … and that’s where a visit to my sisters house kick started parenting ideas of my own.
I still remember the visit I made to her house that opened my eyes to what motherhood could be. She was younger than me, but already had 3 kids under 5 with another in the stars and I’m sure another planned after that! (yep she ended up having 5). We live states away from each other so we didn’t get to see each other often and I wondered how on earth she managed everything. I had just had a baby 6 months ago, so I sat and watched in awe at her household run like the military (in a good way lol). Watching my 1.5 year old nephew strip off for the shower and run to the laundry to put their dirty clothes straight into the washing machine was a moment I would never forget! I thought to myself - 'Of coarse! Why not run home life like I would managing a business. Teaching little ones responsibility and routine at a young age will only benefit them in the future. If they are use to something like this from the start then hopefully they will grow to be independent, responsible adults, able to look after themselves instead of expecting others to do it for them.' The last thing I wanted to do was raise a boy that thinks a woman is there to do everything for him. And who's to say he would end up married etc anyway! I'm sure there's a time when he will believing by himself and needs to know how to look after himself!
So as soon as my kids started walking they started having some sort of responsibility, whether is was a simple thing like putting their clothes into the appropriate laundry basket after they took them off or putting their bottle in the sink after finishing, they had responsibility.
What chores/responsibilities could you give your children?
So what responsibilities and chores could you give your own children? I had a few ideas on what I wanted to do, but otherwise I looked to others for more. I quickly learn’t that having a variety of choices for children to choose from, as well as the usual musts like cleaning their room, is necessary to not only keep things interesting for them, but also to keep them motivated.
Whilst my children do have chores/responsibilities to in turn receive pocket money at the end of the week, they also have chores/responsibilities THEY MUST DO FOR NO PAYMENT. I think this is important as it teaches them to do things not just for payment, but because they need to in life. So when you go through the below list of ideas have a think about some you could have as no payment options too. The rule I have is if they do not do these at an acceptable level they do not get paid for the chores/responsibilities they have done for the week that do earn them money. - Check out ‘A Better Way To Do Kids Pocket Money’ to see how I am teaching my kids to work for money.
Here are just a few ideas to get you started:
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