As a busy mom, I get asked a lot: How To Make Chores Fun For Children? I think this is a question that is asked a lot in large families. It’s something that comes up constantly in my family. It’s a balance of teaching kids responsibilities that are age-appropriate while letting them see being a productive part of the family is rewarding and actually fun.
A large family poses a unique challenge for chore distribution. This is because it is difficult for one parent to manage all of the children and the chores that need to be completed. There are a few ways to make chores in a large family easier.
Our children often find chores to be boring and mundane tasks. They can feel like they are being forced to do something that is not fun at all. With a house full of kids, there can be a lot more work to do and also a lot more hands-on-deck to get the work done. The key to making chores more enjoyable is finding ways of incorporating games into the routine.
Large Family Chores: How To Make Chores Fun For Children
Moms with large families know that keeping everyone organized and on task can be a daunting challenge. But it’s important to make chores fun for children, or they’ll never want to participate. Here are some tips to help get your kids excited about helping out around the house.
By providing fun methods for your child to think the chores are a game, or to earn rewards or allowances not only makes it easier to complete the tasks but also brings a certain level of enjoyment for the kiddos who are performing them.
All in all, it ends up being a win-win situation. Here are some fabulous ideas for making housework fun and creative (at least a little bit).
Chore Jars for Large Family Chores
Give them the opportunity to pick the chores by writing each task on individual slips of paper and placing them in a container for the child to pick from. You could also make one or two additional slips that say things such as “free pass” which means they do not have to do any chores for that day.
Use your creativity when thinking about what you will write on these two special slips of paper. You can find cute labels and other helpful printables to make these family chore jars from The Crafty Chicks. I also found this super cool chore jar that uses a very genius way to track chores and other tasks.
Chore Lists to Simplify Chores in a Large Family
Make a written chore list since many children do better when having some idea of what is expected from them. It is up to the child how they intend on completing the chores by the parent setting a deadline. This will also teach them about time management and scheduling issues.
Get Out of Chore Pass
Provide a “get out of chore pass” each week. Say your child is responsible for completing two chores each day. Give the child two “get out of chore passes” at the beginning of each week along with their chore list.
If they really do not want to do a specific chore or are too busy on that day they can get out of that day’s chore by giving up one of their passes. They will learn to use their passes wisely. This also makes doing chores a bit more tolerable since they know they can get out of a day’s chores without a consequence.
Chore Chart for Multiple Children
If you have more than one child you could separate chores for each of them. Many children will argue less amongst themselves when they can work independently from each other.
A conflict that has happened with my family is when two children have kitchen responsibilities. One child complains they could not wash the dishes since their sibling had not cleared the dinner dishes from the table. If you assign all related chores to one child each week this dilemma will no longer be a problem.
Be sure to rotate chores and responsibilities on a weekly basis. There will be less finger-pointing and blaming and more getting the chores completed with this new practice. Making charts for multiple children will make things easy and will keep everyone accountable.
Reward System
To make doing chores more tolerable allow children to watch television as they work. As long as they are getting their laundry done they can watch TV as they fold clothes. This will also cut down on the prior heaps of dirty clothing when they see the amount of work involved.
Provide a small reward at the end of each week for things such as fully completing their list or for doing an extra task that was not asked of them. Have contests between siblings. Make the rewards things you know the child likes and enjoys. This gives them an added incentive to strive more in completing their chore list.
Pluck-a-Buck
We call this method “Pluck-a-Buck”. If you have to do a lot of nagging to get kids to do their chores try providing an added incentive such as plucking money from their allowance for chores they neglect to do. I would definitely do this with kids that are a little older. Get your child’s allowance in all one-dollar bills and place them in an envelope. You can tape the envelope to the refrigerator door.
Let the child know they can not remove any of the bills from the envelope and that you will be removing a dollar for every chore they do not complete. They no longer have to hear you nagging at them to get their chores done since you will simply be deducting money from their envelope.
Start this on a Monday and make Sunday for distributing the allowance to them. They will either receive all of their allowances or they will receive what is left from you removing money from the envelope for chores not completed. Another idea for this is, have another one of your kids do the chore and they’ll get the dollar.
The bottom line for this is that your child sees this as a consequence more than a punishment. Having them see every choice they make will have either a good consequence or a negative consequence.
Making Chores Fun When You’re in a Large Family
I don’t know about you, but my house is always some sort of a mess. It seems like no matter how hard we try to keep it clean and tidy, there are crumbs on the floor or clothes scattered all over the place. And then of course there is laundry that needs to be done and dishes in the sink!
However, this doesn’t have to be your reality if you make chores fun for children by turning them into games. Being in a large family can often be difficult and overwhelming. However, with creativity and organization, chores can still be fun.
FAQs About Large Family Chores: Making Chores Fun For Children
What are some of the most common chores that children have to do?
These are usually chores we assign or that as a family we come up with things and tasks that need to get done. These chores always depend on age. They may include helping with cooking, doing laundry, taking care of pets, vacuuming, sweeping, taking out the trash, setting the table, cleaning up the table after dinner, etc.
What are some benefits of making chores fun for children?
There is a lot of evidence that children learn better when they are having fun. This is why many parents try to make chores into games. They turn things that children don’t like to do and turn them into something more fun and enjoyable for them. This can be seen with ‘chore chart’ apps and websites, where parents can assign points or rewards for their children when they complete tasks they were given.
Some parents also use chores as a way for their child to earn money – this helps teach children the value of money and how hard work can benefit them in the future. Another way that chores are made fun is with the use of video games, such as “Kirby’s Epic Yarn”. Video games like these help encourage children to do their tasks because of the game’s visuals.
What are some of the challenges that come with parenting in a large family?
There are many challenges and rewards for families of all sizes. As one who’s been on the big chaotic family journey for a while, I’ll be sharing my struggles and my victories along the way. You can find more about my family, things I’ve learned and am still learning, and my best advice here.
How can parents set boundaries with their children?
Parents should sit with their kids to come up with a chore strategy. From this, we moms and dads need to set up boundaries. If the chores or tasks aren’t completed consequences need to be established ahead of time and always implemented. If kids think we aren’t going to follow through, they’ll capitalize on this. Trust me, I say this with experience.
There is no “one-size-fits-all” approach to chores, and parents need to consider the unique needs of each child. Setting reasonable expectations, rewards, as well as consequences, develop healthy habits that will last a lifetime.
What ways have you found to help your kids have fun while doing their chores?
Leave a Reply