The 4 Benefits of Your Child Completing Chores
You work a 9-5 job and don’t want to spend all of your time off from work cleaning up the house. Sometimes you ask your child to assist you because you want to get them off the couch. You are sick of watching them play video games. Other times you don’t even bother. It is quicker for you to complete the chore on your own; it’s less frustrating. You don’t feel like dealing with the process of explaining to your child what you need done and them doing it wrong or not doing it at all.
Below are the 4 benefits of your child completing household chores.
1. Teaches Responsibility
Assigning your child household chores for which they are being held accountable for teaches them responsibility. They learn that they are responsible for completing specific tasks and that they are to complete them in a timely fashion being that others depend on them. This teaches them time management skills. Children also learn how to delay instant gratification because they have to complete their chores prior to going out to play or engaging in any other enjoyable activity. The skills that children learn from completing chores during childhood are skills that they carry into adulthood and can utilize when they are living independently.
2. Prepares Them for the Real World
Having to complete chores prepares children for when they become adults. It introduces them to what it is like to work and what it is like to have someone count on them to complete a task. Chores teach children how to break down a big project into smaller steps as well as how to remain on task. It teaches them organizational skills and how to manage their time effectively. As the caregiver, you may choose to give your child a monetary reward for completing chores every two weeks so that they can understand how pay stubs work. By doing this you are also teaching your child the value of money and money management skills.
3. Increases Self-Esteem
As children work on completing chores, their self-esteem increases. They are able to see their own abilities and feel confident in themselves. They feel a sense of accomplishment and self worth. They learn how to be independent by doing things for themselves. Children also feel that they are a contributing member of the family as they are helping others and being depended on.
4. Teaches Teamwork
Children learn how to work in a team by assisting their family in completing chores. They learn how to cooperate with others when several family members are working on completing a specific task such as shoveling snow or raking leaves. Children learn the value of contributing to the family and working together provides the family with a sense of unity.
Janine Kelly, MSW, LCSW, RPT, CATP, ADHD-CCSP, CCATP-CA is a Registered Play Therapist, Certified EMDR Therapist, and Perinatal Mental Health Therapist in Middlesex, NJ. Janine specializes in childhood anxiety, childhood OCD, childhood trauma, and supporting children who experience neurodivergence such as ADHD and Autism. She also specializes in pregnancy and postpartum mood disorders such as anxiety, panic disorder, OCD, depression, and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
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