SHOULD THE CHILD HAVE RESPONSIBILITIES?

Psychologists emphasize that responsibilities in the life of a child are necessary. Household chores teach the child responsibility and thus self-esteem, satisfaction and pride. Responsibilities should be appropriate to the age and capabilities of the child, and praise for their performance should be linked not to the result- effect (e.g. a perfectly made bed), but to the contribution to the life of the family, the child’s effort and willingness to help.

HERE ARE SOME TIPS FOR A PARENT WHOSE CHILD DON’T WANT TO PERFORM HOUSEHOLD CHORES:

  • consider whether the responsibilities we have come up with do not exceed the child’s abilities
  • discuss with the child whether they would like to replace this duty with another
  • discuss with the child, does he have any other ideas to support family life, if so, what?
  • ensure that our expectations are clearly formulated and that the child understands what to do and how
  • some children are helped to organize their duties by weekly plans and lists of individual tasks to be carried out
  • look at the child: his form, mood, etc. (may have a worse day, be tired, sick, go through a crisis, etc.),
  • do not be too rigid in the expectations of the child, nothing will happen, as from time to time the child’s toys before bedtime will not be laid out
  • do not to treat domestic duties as punishment or consequences for the child’s misconduct
  • stress that responsibilities are the shared responsibility of each family member facilitating the daily organization of life
  • make sure that the child hears our “thank you” and feels that we notice his or her contribution
  • let us not criticize or compare a child’s work to his or her siblings or to our work
  • let’s combine the performance of duties with the result (if we clean together, it will go faster and we will be able to go to the playground earlier)