There are always a lot of chores to do around the house and let’s face it even with our wonderful husbands the bulk of the house chores usually fall on the mother’s shoulders.
It is then important for our personal sanity as mothers and also for the growth of our kids, that we delegate some chores to them. While it can often be easier to just do the household chores yourself especially when it takes five times as long to explain to your 5-year-old what needs to get done, and then supervise him/her while it is being done. The fact is that helping out with everyday tasks is important for your child’s development.
Most mothers struggle with determining the right time for their kids to begin to do chores at home. Some people believe that the age of 4-5 years is the right time to begin to delegate chores to kids. I agree because we would notice that it is at this age children begin to show interest in chores. It is at this stage they begin to show interest in washing plates, laying their beds, washing clothes and sweeping the floor because they consider it as fun.
There are a lot of benefits to giving kids chores which would be good for them in the long run. Some examples of the benefits are:
- Giving kids chores can build self-esteem. Getting a chore done and doing it well can give your child a major sense of accomplishment. It also help to give him/her confidence. It also encourages independence because they are doing a good job by themselves.
- Giving kids chores can teach the importance of completing an assigned job. This will become more useful as your child gets older and has more responsibilities at school and at home.
- Giving kids chores can emphasize the value of keeping things clean and organized. Getting your child into the habit of regularly picking up after herself is a great way to not only build a good routine that will benefit him/her for the rest of his/her life, but will help you cut out the chaos in your house and make it more organized and peaceful.
- Giving kids chores can set a pattern of helping around the house. Once you get your child into the household chore habit, it’ll become a part of his/her life that will continue into the teen years and beyond.
- Giving kids chores can give him/her a sense of being part of the household “team.”
Results from a well-known 75-year-long Harvard study, showed that that subjects who were given chores as kids grew up to be adults who were more independent, better able to work in collaborative groups, and better equipped to understand that even though doing chores or hard work may feel unpleasant, it means being a valuable part of a community. Basically, it gives kids the fundamental building blocks toward developing a “can do” attitude, which is what will fuel success in the workplace and in interpersonal relationships.
Let’s take note as mothers that chores should be not be given based on gender, let’s cultivate the habit of including every child to enable them be a prominent part of the growth of our society. Do you give your children chores?
