How To Motivate Children To Collaborate At Home?
Being able to motivate children to collaborate at home is a challenge that many families face every day. Often, many parents decide to do housework themselves to avoid conflict with their children. Nonetheless, did you know that collaborating in housework encourages children to learn values and skills?
Collaborating at home is good for children
Doctor of Philosophy and Educational Sciences Joseph Knobel believes that teaching children to cooperate around the home is important, because housework is the first responsibility children take on in their lives.
The importance of collaboration in the home by children is not limited to maintaining a clean and tidy home, but also extends to teaching values and skills that will be very useful to them in the future:
- Responsibility. Even if children don’t enjoy doing housework, after completing a task successfully they will feel more responsible, thanks to that feeling of satisfaction that is so comforting.
- Discussion skills. Knowing how to present your ideas, communicate clearly and try to reach an agreement.
- Teamwork. Learn that sometimes, to achieve a goal, it is necessary to cooperate with others.
- Sensitivity and empathy. When your children help you clean, they discover and understand the hard work involved in running a home.
- Independence. By working together at home, they learn how to do housework effectively, useful for the future.
According to bestselling author Dan Pink, housework is good for children because it teaches them that families are built on mutual obligations and that, ultimately, family members need to help each other.
Five ways to motivate children to cooperate at home
1. Start the task with them
One of the most common mistakes parents make is that they expect their children to already know how to do their homework, either because of their simplicity or because they believe the children have seen them complete. Often, the only thing children need to start collaborating around the house is for parents to teach them how to do housework.
For example, collecting the toys from the room may seem like an easy task at first glance. However, your child may not know where to place them correctly, resulting in frustration and eventually deciding to give up. For this reason, instead of scolding him, try asking him if he needs help. The trick is to help him get started with the task, and then gradually let him do it.
2. Everyone must have responsibilities
When it comes to educating a child in housework, one of the most important aspects is the division of responsibilities within the family.
Children must understand that all members of the family have their own responsibilities, of course according to each one’s abilities.
It is important to know how to choose the appropriate tasks we want to assign to the children. For example, choosing a job that is too difficult for your age can be frustrating, while one that is too simple will end up being boring.
3. Let them be a little more autonomous each time
Just like in a workplace where the boss leaves no room for the opinions of his employees by canceling any autonomy, the same thing happens in the family.
It is essential to give children the opportunity to express their opinion. By allowing them to say what they think, self-confidence is encouraged and, little by little, their sense of self-reliance is formed.
As they feel more autonomous and independent, children will be more motivated to take on household chores and do them much more efficiently.
4. Teamwork
When you want your children to do housework, make it happen when all family members are helping to run the house.
Your child will feel part of something and, by working as a team with his family, his motivation to collaborate will increase. Also, since the housework will be done together, you will make sure it is done correctly.
5. That collaborating at home is another of the many family habits
Teach your children, from childhood, the importance of collaborating at home. Gradually, the children will assume and regularize their responsibilities, and then, eventually, turn them into a habit.
If you set a specific time period of the week in your family to dedicate to organizing and cleaning the house, you will build a family habit together.
In this way, your child will understand that collaborating in household chores is a necessary thing and, finally, will consider it a routine, a completely normal phenomenon, seeing that all family members contribute to the smooth running of the house.
It is also good for family union
Finally, being able to motivate your children to work together around the home can also help build strong family relationships. The division of tasks and responsibilities will ease family burdens and tensions, thereby reducing stress in the family.
Ultimately, if we motivate children to collaborate around the house with housework, they will feel part of something bigger than themselves and, at the same time, they will learn valuable skills for their future.
