Chores. Housework. House jobs. Words that strike fear and loathing into kids worldwide. Not only into kids, but into their parents who have to remind, nag, and threaten in order to get kids to follow through on their responsibilities. Well, I'm here to tell you it doesn't have to be that bad. Here are a few tips to make the drudgery a little more bearable. (And sometimes, actually fun!) 1 - Music! Who doesn't work a little easier with music? Heaven knows I get a lot more done with my jogging soundtrack playing in the background. Your kids can benefit from the same motivation. I have two playlists that the kids love to listen to while working. One is Disney songs. The other has fun family-friend songs by the likes of Robbie Schaeffer, Secret Agent 23 Skidoo, Jonathan Coulton, and Kermit the Frog.
2 - Make it a game. I was the second of seven kids, and my Mom was great about making things fun. She'd have us count to see who could pick up the highest number of toys. Or we'd pretend the floor was hot lava and we had to jump across couch cushions on the floor as we picked up without touching the lava.
While doing laundry, my kids and I play Castle Panic. I start folding clothes and putting them in piles. They're the towers to my castle. The kids are the monsters, trying to get rid of my towers as fast as I can build them.
3 - Employ reverse psychology. This is, by far, my favorite technique to use to motivate my kids. My kids love it when I'm "silly." I tell them "Whatever you do, don't pick up the clothes in your bedroom. In fact, when I get back upstairs, I want ALL of your clothes out of your drawers on your bedroom floor." Of course, they giggle and run into their bedrooms and do the opposite of what I ask. I check in regularly with comments. "Hey, where'd all the toys go? I told you I wanted them out! Not put away! Now, get to dumping them out or we'll be late for school!" Have fun with it. The more fun you're having, the more likely they will jump on board and play along.
Sometimes, when they need even more motivation for a big job, I tell them I'm going to do it myself. As I pick up items from the floor, they "magically" disappear out of my hands and just jump into the toy buckets all by themselves. It's kinda crazy how that happens. I figure it must be magic, but the magic seems to giggle just like my kids. Go figure.
Or sometimes I tell them to put things in silly places. "Can you please put this pile of dirty clothes in the dishwasher." Or "Please clean out the dishwasher and put all of the clean dishes in the bathtub." Oh, how they love disobeying!
4 - Compete or race. I tend to have them compete against me rather than against each other. I think my experience of having a bigger brother that could do EVERYTHING better than me (or so it seemed at the time) makes me want to be sensitive to my Dolly, who has a big brother just like I did. I tell them I can get dressed before they do, or empty the dishwasher before they clean up the toys in their bedrooms, or whatever. Then I watch as they run off and help each other finish their tasks. And of course, I call out regular updates on how quickly I'm doing my chore to keep them motivated.
5 - Last, if all of the fun motivators don't work, have clear cut consequences if chores are not done. And make sure these consequences are motivating for your child. Bub has to do all of his chores or he cannot have his game time. Game time wasn't a good enough motivator for Dolly. But going to bed half an hour early is. Especially since it means she goes to bed before Boo. The consequence may be different for each child. Don't be afraid to experiment a bit until you find the right consequence or reward for each child.
What do you do to motivate your kids to do their chores? Share in the comments!
