Parenting : Encouraging Kids to Help Out around the House (Part 1)
[Anya’s washing the rice grains and Vai’s rinsing the vegies]
Recently someone asked if our kids help out around the house. And when I said, ‘Yes, they do help with some simple chores everyday’, the next two questions were, ‘Including the boy?’ and ‘When did they start helping out?’
I feel this is something that families face everyday. And so I thought of writing a little bit on this topic (I’ll split it into two blog posts).
For today, I’d like to share with you these related blog posts which I wrote in the past:
> December 2005 – Getting Kids to Help Out
[Anya was 21 months old at the time, ie. 3 months away from turning 2yo]
Blog extract :
Someone once said, ‘A spoiled son makes a terrible husband.’
Many parents unconsciously ‘train’ their children to become ’spoiled ones’ by doing everything for the kids, giving in to all their requests and wants and failing to rebuke their misbehaviours.
One way of introducing a sense of responsibility to kids, I think, is by getting them involved in our day to day chores and tasks.
> May 2008 – Getting Kids involved Around the House
[Anya was 4yo and Vai was 21 months old, similar to Anya’s age in the post above]
Blog extract :
Now that we have two kids in the house, it’s nearly impossible for us to keep the house nice and tidy.
Look under the sofa, and you’ll find a crayon, a piece of paper or a toy car. Storybooks can sometimes be found in the kitchen, or under the kids’ beds too!
As much as possible though, when it comes to helping out, we always try to get the kids involved around the house.
…
> May 2009 – When Kids can Help Moms Stay Sane
[Anya was 5yo and Vai was 33 months old here. He was basically 3 months away from turning 3yo]
Blog extract:
When kids are actively involved in helping around the house, moms will end up having ‘more time’ to do other things (or, more time to relax and read the papers, eg.)
For our case, we try to get our kids involved as much as possible since they’re young.
…
> January 2010 – Parenting : Kids in the Kitchen
[Anya was 2 months away from turning 6yo, and Vai was about 3.5yo]
Blog extract:
When I grew up in Indonesia, we had maids to cook and clean the house for us. And so as a little girl, I didn’t spend much time in the kitchen, I must say.
Boys generally are not expected to be in the kitchen too.
Things are run rather differently at our home though.
…
Before I end today’s post, I thought I should say that in reality, both Anya and Vai don’t ALWAYS welcome the idea of helping out.
I mean, they don’t always go, ‘YIPEE! I now get to tidy up the shoe rack and take out the dirty laundry!!’
Kids are kids. Even us adults (at least, I do!) often feel like NOT doing any chores =)
There were times when Vai, for example, said, ‘Urgh, why do I need to bring the dirty clothes to the laundry?’
[But usually after he sees that Mommy does so much more, and EVERYONE ELSE helps out and contributes in different ways too, he’s happy to help out again, ie. Doesn’t see any reason for complaining and not helping =)]
Well, anyway.
I’ll share some tips (that work in our family so far, at least =) in my next post yeah!
In the mean time, hope you all enjoy the rest of the week!
