I’m a working mom with a 19 year old, 17 year old, and 8 year old. I remember when my kids were little, trying to get them to do chores was like pulling teeth. Sometimes it seemed like they would only do chores if there was a monster chasing them with a whip. But eventually they all grew up and learned how to contribute around the house. Here are some tips that might help you get your child to do chores:
1) Start early. The earlier you start getting your child used to doing chores, the easier it will be later on.
2) Use a chore chart. A chore chart can help your child know what is expected of them and when they need to do it.
3) Make it fun. Try to make doing chores a game or a competition – see who can vacuum the fastest, or who can put away the most laundry. This will help your child want to do them.
4) Reward good behavior. Make sure to praise your child when they do a good job with their chores. You can also give them small rewards, like stickers or extra screen time.
5) Be consistent. It’s important to be consistent with chore expectations and consequences. If you are not, your child will quickly learn that they can get away with not doing their chores.
6) Make it a team effort. Chores don’t have to be just the kid’s responsibility – sometimes mom and dad can pitch in too.
7) Set some ground rules. Establish some basic rules about what is expected of each family member when it comes to chores, and make sure everyone follows them.
8) Don’t nag. It’s important not to nag your kids about doing their chores – that will only make them resistant to doing them altogether.
These are just a few tips to help you get your child to do chores around the house. With a little patience and persistence, you should be able to get them started!
It wasn’t easy, but I learned a few things along the way. And if you’re struggling to get your kids to do chores, hopefully my experience can help you out. How do you get your kids to do chores? Let me know in the comments below – I’d love to hear from other parents about how they handle this age-old battle!
The Glorious Train Wreck Mom 
I have ADHD, so I struggle with getting mundane tasks done. I use a lot of these myself, even as an adult! Great tips! A reward (“bait” I called it) definitely helps, like you mention above. Like I do this, and I can play video games or something else fun. Flexibility/timing, and learning my energy levels helps…because sometimes I’m just not in the mood, like finding the right time for the activity. Like, when I’m keyed up from a trip to the store, or school, and I can’t really focus or settle down, not even for gaming, it’s good to have an active kinesthetic task to wean off that energy. Sometimes I take advantage of “dead zones” like when I’m ready to go out or I have a meeting, but I have to wait for the event to happen at a certain time, I transfer that energy into cramming an active task that has an end point built into to it, like putting laundry in or doing the dishes or something else like that even if I don’t finish the task, I’ve started it, and now my brain “remembers” I have to finish it later (like a recording), and also because I have that deadline (as opposed to playing a video game, where I’ll get sucked into it and forget the time and then I’m late). In an expansion of “making it fun”, transitioning to the task helps (like a prep)…say I’ll have music and other things I’ll do (even if I do them all the time) somewhat ritualistically or put on an audio book that acts like a “hook” to help me commit to the project at hand. Sometimes even doing two or more tasks at once helps, like putting in laundry and doing another active task (tying into your competition approach) in the time it takes the laundry cycle to finish.
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Im part of the ADD club. Same with the kids. That’s the only way I knew some of this. Like it works for us because our brains ooh look the dog is being cute. What was I saying?
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Ha, yes. I miss having cable sometimes because I would put on a show in the background and jump up to do chores during the commercial breaks for motivation. Facebook’s YoWorld (then YoVille) got me through grad school!
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PS I don’t know what you were saying, I was too busy with…”Oh, look, a squirrel!” Ha!
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