Involving Children In Domestic Chores

As parents, many of us sometimes go an extra mile in pampering children. Sometimes to the extent that we do not want to involve them in any of the ‘household’ activities.

It was very common a generation ago, especially with stay-at-home mothers to take complete responsibility of all the domestic chores and never even allow the kids to participate in them. But with the growing need to do things ourselves, working couples and help being little for nuclear families, it is good to have everyone in the family do their bit to keep the house running.

Involving children in domestic chores not only gives a breather for the ever exhausted parents but also promotes a healthy temperament in kids, in various ways. As with many other things, starting early and involving children from a young age would prove to be really helpful as opposed to starting late which may lead to resistance at some level. When the children are young, they are inquisitive about what adults do and often try to imitate their actions. It is a wise choice to tap that explorative nature of kids and put it to good use to mould them as responsible individuals. Some of the reasons that convince us to involve children in activities at home are:

1) Teaches them responsibility: ‘Make your bed every night before going to sleep. Fold your blankets and make your bed tidy when you wake up each morning. Do not leave books scattered around. Fold your washed clothes and put them in your cupboard, etc. ‘

How often did we as children hear them from our parents and how often did we, as parents repeat the above words? Needless to say, this is an everyday story at many homes. Involving children early in doing their job would create a sense of discipline and responsibility.

2) Creates a sense of family bonding: Cooking meals, doing laundry, gardening, etc. together will not only teach and promote working in a group but also is a great opportunity for the entire family to spend time together and bond. Doing boring tasks together will not only make them more fun and interesting, but also gives the family an opportunity to spend some quality time together and unwind from our mundane, hectic lifestyles.

3) Makes them more empathetic: Many a time, we do not realize the amount of hard work and efforts that goes into making a house, a home. Very often, everybody, particularly the kids take the efforts for granted and do not realize that without that kind of hard work and consistent effort, the place would just be insane. Involving kids and making them do their bit for the house, will certainly make them more empathetic and they would be forced to think twice before they play spoilsport with it. It teaches them appreciation for others and in future, makes them considerate and easy for others who live with them.

4) Helps in cultivating a habit: The wiki defines habit as a routine of behaviour that is repeated regularly and tends to occur subconsciously. The process by which new behaviours become automatic is habit formation. So, doing the same tasks religiously everyday at home gradually makes them into a habit and that would definitely be of great help to them personally going further, as they would not consider it a burden anymore.

5) Keeps them more active physically: With the ever growing need to stay physically active these days, involving children in domestic chores would also contribute to staying alert physically. At the minimum, it helps in stretching the body to a certain extent instead of just whiling away the time being a couch potato.

So, how are you involving the kids at different tasks at home? Please leave your comments, suggestions and creative ideas on the same.

Tejaswini is a mom to a lovely one and half year old girl, from Hyderabad, presently living in the US. She is an engineer in IT, by profession. A newbie blogger, photography and painting enthusiast, internet junkie, she enjoys reading and discovering nature when she is not running after her now naughty toddler. She is a dreamer and dreams of being a super-woman excelling at both work and home fronts, doing equal justice to both, someday. She has a personal blog at http://acacaphonyofmiscellany.blogspot.com/