Children resist doing chores at home. Even if they are the reason for the chores, they employ various underhanded means and subterfuges to avoid them. How resourceful they are in their excuses! Suddenly, when a request is made to get help with chores, homework becomes imperative. No time to clean the garage, Mom, I have to finish my reading. Sure, even though just minutes before they were watching TV.

Of course, the purpose of gaining children’s cooperation with chores is more than just getting the house cleaned. That’s part of it, but the overriding concern is with helping kids to develop a work ethic and learn to be responsible. While it is true that a cleaning chore might be completed just as well in an hour or two as right at the time it is requested, children must learn to prioritize tasks, from important to trivial, and to devote their time accordingly. With that in mind, here are some tricks of the parenting trade designed and conceived to encourage these lessons.

Make Chores Fun

Parents know that chores are not fun and children generally learn from an early age to treat chores as un-fun. Even still, with a little advance planning and arranging, chores can be turned into playtime that might appeal to kids. Make chores a game! “Pick up the papers in the family room in five minutes and you can watch your favorite show tonight.” You might hesitate to play tricks on your kids, but this trick works.

Give ’em a choice

Some chores are easier than others, but even easy chores still need to get done. Let your child pick the chores he or she will do and watch them gain a devotion to making a good effort. They will naturally come to prefer some chores over others but try to guide them to picking valuable chores.

Promise a reward

Offer to do a fun activity as soon as a chore is completed and watch them get to work in a hurry. You might offer a treat for getting a chore done, but it is probably best to make it a participatory activity that might offer a chance to learn something new. Children appreciate being rewarded for their efforts.

Do not make chores punishment

If a chore is assigned as punishment for some wrongdoing, rest assured that the child will begin viewing that chore negatively. The only chore that should be assigned after wrongdoing is to offer a sincere apology. Kids should be taught to view chores positively.

Offer a contest

If there is more than one kid involved in chores, then introduce competition into the mix of chores. Whoever finishes first is the champ! Maybe the champ gets a special prize, like an extra half hour of TV or ice cream for lunch. Either way, this goes along with making chores fun and it works. From lifeasmama.com/10-brilliant-ideas-to-motivate-your-children-to-do-chores.

Make a chore line

Hang a short piece of clothes line across an empty room and add chores onto clothes pins. When a child completes a chore, allow him or her to hang the corresponding pin on the line. When the line is full, then give the child a reward. This will be fun for the kids and fun for the parents, too.

Give chore coupons

Create little coupons listing chores or create a scratch card for chores. When chores are completed, kids get coupons or scratches on their card. Later on, they can trade them in for treats. Learn more by watching this video

Getting kids to do chores is not easy, but it need not be a battle of parents against kids. With a little advance planning, chores can be turned into a fun and appealing activity for kids. Kids should help around the house and with if parents follow these tips, soon enough they will. Hopefully, they will even come to enjoy it.