Teach Your Child Responsibility By Assigning Chores

By Author: Jesse Whitehead
Total Articles: 130
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A good way to teach your child a sense of duty and responsibility is to assign regular chores around the house. Start out slow, perhaps one or two small tasks, and as they are mastered, gradually add additional chores one-by-one that it you expect your child to do.

Give your child specific jobs with clearly defined steps and responsibilities. Don't assume your child will know how to do the job you ask him to do. Also, don't expect him to learn how to do it just by watching. You'll need to teach and train your child step-by-step on how to accomplish the task. Children learn best by doing. Model the job first - show your child how it is done - then guide and train side by side until he can do it on his own.

When you assign chores, make sure your child's age and abilities are equal to the assignment. Giving your child a job that is too hard or beyond his cognitive or physical level will only end up in frustration and a sense of defeat. Give your child a job that he can own and master, as this will build self-confidence and foster pride in getting the job done.

Let your child work on the task without ...
... your constant supervision. When your child is finished with the job check the result, and suggest any corrections if necessary. Be sure to compliment him when he completes the job.

Resist the temptation to redo a chore that your child has just completed. If it has to be done exactly your way then you should do it yourself, but don't expect your child to do it the same way you do. Fixing your child's work can be harmful to his self-esteem. How do you think you would you feel if somebody redid everything you did?

Define the time of day that you expect your child to have a job completed. It may be before school, after school, or by dinnertime. Whatever time frame you require, don't let chores go undone before your child goes to bed. Make sure your child has completed all of his chores by the end of the day.

Help your child break large jobs down into smaller more easy to complete steps. There is probably nothing more discouraging for a child than working on a task that is so big that it seems it will take forever to finish. Break the job into small doable chunks, and as your child completes each smaller task he will gain confidence that he can complete the entire job.
Jesse Whitehead lives in the San Joaquin Valley of California with his family. He enjoys writing articles on a variety of different subjects. His newest interest is in wall mount faucets. Learn more about wall mount faucets at WallMountFaucet.org