Chorapalooza: Raising Responsible Kids

Start kids out with simple chores, like hanging towels or clearing the table. Before long, they may be washing loads or making whole meals.

Getting kids to remember their chores is one thing. Motivating them to do them is quite another. Many parents give up and decide it’s not worth the fight. But other parents believe instilling a shared sense of responsibility and work ethic in children sets them up to be productive, hard-working adults.

Behavioral psychologists recommend creating a visual schedule for children so that they can see their tasks at a glance and gauge their progress.

When you’re just starting out, it’s important to keep tasks simple. Folding and putting away clothes, setting or clearing the table, and taking a dog for a walk are all good places to start. Gradually increase the complexity of the tasks as your child masters the easy ones.

Building in simple rewards is another key. These rewards can be stickers, experiences with you or the children’s friends, or a weekly allowance.

Before long, you may just find that kids will be cooking meals, cleaning bathrooms and mowing the lawn!

Tools for Raising Responsible Kids

Giftsin24 offers several products that can help you create a visual schedule. These three oversized slabs contain 250 sheets, offering up to 5 years of weekly chore sheets for your busy family.

The Family Organize by Day Slab  makes a great basis for a visual schedule. Simply tear off a page, write in the daily chores for each person and hang it on your refrigerator, pinboard or other central, convenient place. This is a useful tool to show that everyone in the family has responsibilities.

The Organize by Day Slab  is appropriate for making chore lists for individual children or family members. Each week, hang a new sheet in a child’s room so their list is always close at hand.

The Organize by Week Slab is another tool for creating a visual schedule for individual family members.