How to Get Your Kids to Help Around the House (Episode #83)

The biggest question every parent faces is, “How do I get my kids to help around the house?!” There are a million different ways to get kids to help clean up their messes and pitch in with household tasks. And if they would do it with a smile on their face instead of the dreaded complaining and whining, that would be magical. Our family isn’t perfect, but we work really hard together.

Check out this mini podcast of how we get our family of 9 to help around the house in 5 simple steps.

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Show Notes:

How to Get Your Kids to Help Around the House in 5 Steps:

1. Work Alongside Them

Expect that it will take an average of 7 or 8 times for them to learn the skill on their own. Once they have the skill done, work where they can see you are working as well. If they see you hanging out relaxing, they are often going to feel like a slave. This usually cuts down on the complaining when you remind them that you are both working and helping the family and household. This isn’t always possible, but it’s especially helpful if you are just starting a new cleaning routine, have a big project you are working on together or even if you need an opportunity to have a nice unconfrontational chat with your child, working together is a great time to do that.

2. Talk it Up

Thank them for helping the family. Praise the little things they are doing right in their cleaning. Help them practice on areas they don’t quite have right, but be as positive as possible. Get them excited about how they are doing grown up tasks and celebrate with them how good they will be at taking care of themselves when they are grown up and living on their own. Make sure your comments are genuine. Any kid can see through false praise.

3. Define Your Expectations

If your kids aren’t sure what they are supposed to do, everyone is going to be disappointed at the outcome. Having a chore chart is very helpful for you to write down what needs to be done, and gives them something to refer to so they don’t “forget”. (We have a collection of printable chore charts in our FREEBIE Resource Library, click here to get those or scroll to the bottom of this post to learn how to get the passcode.)

Another important part of this is if you have certain standards for cleaning a bedroom or a bathroom, walk them through it, but also print out a list. I like to laminate mine so they last longer. Let them know if you expect a quick tidy up or a deep clean.

4. Make it Fun

There are so many fun job charts you can use (we have many in our FREBBIE Resource Library!), or games you can play. For example, we did a balloon chart one day. We put the chores inside the balloons and the kids popped the balloons to see what chore they needed to do next.

Monetizing jobs, giving them technology minutes or rewarding them with treats or prizes work really well for us. The biggest thing is to mix it up. We all get bored doing the same thing all the time.

5. Be Consistent

Expect for the chore to be done when you assign it. Check up on them, thank them, let them know you noticed. This is another reason the chore charts help me. I have a hard time remembering myself what I have asked the kids to do sometimes. This helps me keep it all straight.

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Favorite parenting book: The Parenting Breakthrough by Merrilee Boyack