5 Reasons Kids Need to Help in the Home

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5 Reasons Kids Need to Help in the Home

Helping out in the home is something I learnt from an early age. It’s really a great opportunity for parents to teach children the value of work but even better it helps to get things done faster and gives parents more time to do quality activities with the kids.

Cleaning together can be fun and help build a relationship. I know. As a child I’d sing with my Mother as we washed and dried the dishes, medical talk as we tidied and laugh as we cooked together. These are the memories I now cherish and these were opportunities for me to develop important skills I would later need in life.

With that said here are 5 reasons kids need to help in the home.

Contribution:

Everyone eats, makes a mess, dirties the dishes and makes laundry. Getting children to tidy up, put their laundry in the basket, help load the machine and contribute to the housework teaches them to contribute as a family member and share in the work needed to be done in the home.

Learning:

One of the best things about having kids help out in the house is the fact they learn new skills. I’m a strong believer that the home is the primary place for learning. If your child does not learn housework skills in the home, they will have to learn it somewhere else.

When I was an adult and living on my own, the things I’d learnt to do as a child were simple and easy for me, however one or two things I’d not learnt appeared for overwhelming for me. I appreciated all I had learnt and realised the value of picking up housework skills as a child.

Value of Work:

From an early age I learnt the value of work. If I wanted something I earned it. I then appreciated the things I had and valued what I had earned. In contrast I had friends who were given whatever they wanted and they grew up expecting things to be handed to them on a plate. They did not want to work and did not care for or look after the things they owned. Interestingly some of these friends do not work now as adults.

Responsibility:

Having a responsibility is a good opportunity for children. When you are responsible for something, you know people are relying on you and are much more likely to follow through than if your not expected to do a chore.

Appreciation:

Working is not always fun, however if children are taught from a young age to work and help out in the home, they will also learn to appreciate the work others do for them. For example if a child has helped clean the garden, they are not going to want to throw rubbish around to make it unclean. Likewise when a child helps mop the floor, they might feel frustrated if someone walked in putting mud everywhere.

Learning to appreciate the work you and others do will teach Kids to be grateful.

It’s not always easy to know what is and what is not appropriate for each child. For my daughter I started out asking her to place her own laundry in the basket and then built up from their. My daughter has a daily responsibility of letting her dogs out in the morning to use the toilet.

My child is now learning to make her own bed each morning and then when she comes home she finds her bed lovely and made up and welcoming at bed time.

Teaching kids to help in the home is a great idea. It will help prepare your children for the later years and install in them a good work ethic which can only help them later in life.

Angela x