Give Them Some Responsibility

School schedules are finishing up and summertime is just around the corner; what a great time to teach your children some new responsibilities. If your children are already accustomed to doing chores around the house, this might be an excellent time to challenge them with some additional tasks to stretch their skill levels or add a little variety to their current task load. Summer schedules are typically less demanding so a few extra items on the work menu may also go a long way to relieve the boredom factor. If your children are not accustomed to regular household responsibiliies, there is no time like the present to get them started.

Authorities on the subject agree that the easiest way to teach your children responsibility is to start when they’re young, even as toddlers. They can do much more than you think and this is the age they want to help. Picking up toys, putting clothes in the laundry basket and putting their pajamas away are all reasonable expectations for toddlers.

When establishing new chores parents would do well to work alongside each child to make certain they understand what to do and how to do it themselves. You can avoid much frustration by demonstrating what you want done. Remember to keep the job simple and age-appropriate. Make sure they know when you expect chores to be completed and how often. Don’t do for a child what they can do for themselves and once they have learned to do things properly teach them to be efficient so as not to waste time and energy.

Be careful about the use of rewards. If you want your kids to develop a sense of contribution and family involvement teach them the blessing of working together to keep the household running smoothly; each one doing his/her task becomes a reward in itself. Make sure both Mom and Dad are thinking alike on this subject; it doesn’t take long for a child to find a parental advocate when it comes to an undesirable responsibility. Swap chores around from time to time so that different family members develop a variety of skills. You may find it helpful to use chore charts as incentives to keep track of progress. Mrs. Roush will be introducing some examples of these with our FrontLine kids this next week.

Training our children to be responsible adults with all the skills and abilities necessary to establish godly homes of their own is a monumental achievement. God give us grace to start early and prepare them well.