Our Fresh Start idea for today is to establish chores for your kids.  Chores for children are important because they teach kids responsibility, teach them basic life skills, make them feel like they are contributing to the family, and ease the burden of mom and dad.  Here are a few tips to help you get started:

1. Make sure the chores are age appropriate so that they are not over or under challenged.  Here is a list of age appropriate chores to help get you started.

2. Make sure there are repercussions if they don’t follow through with their chores.  Parents can either take away allowance or a privilege (i.e. TV time, night out with friends, computer time) if they don’t follow through or require constant reminding.

3. To increase ownership and reduce whining give the kids a say in which chores they take on or the ability to trade chores with their siblings.  Be sure to watch for older siblings taking advantage of younger siblings if you let them trade.

4. Give them ownership for doing the chores by creating a system to track and remind them.  A kid’s chore chart is a great place to start or a dry erase board on the outside of their bedroom door is another option.

5. Be willing to make changes if the chores are too difficult for them.  Remember chores are about teaching responsibility and learning life skills.  When the chores are not age appropriate or too difficult physically their enthusiasm will quickly evaporate leaving them frustrated and angry.

6. Give them some flexibility is how and when they get done.  The key here is not giving them too much flexibility that the chores never get done, but rather give them some ownership and flexibility so that they can still enjoy their free time.  For example, if an after school event comes up on the day they are supposed to clean their room, let them switch days so that they can attend the event and still get their room cleaned.

Download some chore chart templates from Chart Jungle.

Good luck!

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