SuccessfulFamilyChores

6 Tips for Successful Family Chores
Copyright © January 2007 * Andrea Simanson
All Rights Reserved

Have you ever defined what "chores" mean to you and your family members? What are your expectations? What are your family's expectations? What is your definition of a clean house and how do you involve everyone to keep up with the housework?

Following are some tips to help you decide what's important to you and your family and to help make household chores a priority in your home.

1. Have a family meeting.
Get everyone together for a short family meeting. A good way to get them together is to make everyone's favorite treat. Ask what their expectations are for the home. One person may care about organization. Another might be worried about keeping things clean and germfree. A chore that is important to one person may have less meaning to another. The purpose of the meeting is to give everyone a chance to express what's important to them and then come up with a plan for household chores. Keep it simple. Just get it started.

2. Create a written plan for chores accomplishment.
After the family meeting, write down the plan and post it somewhere visible to all family members. Or, create individual chore lists for each member.

3. Set a timeline for inspection of chores.
It does no good to have a family meeting and write down the plan if there will be no follow through to make the plan happen. One idea is to have daily, weekly, and monthly chores. Daily chores get accomplished and inspected daily. Weekly chores get accomplished and inspected weekly. And monthly chores get accomplished and inspected monthly. Decide who will inspect chores and then be sure the inspection happens. If your child is expected to make his/her bed each morning, does he/she get that chore accomplished? If not, is it because the chore is not being inspected? Ever heard the term "What gets inspected gets done." It's true.

4. Ante up for chores not completed.
If your child does not get his/her chore accomplished, is there a consequence or lost privilege? If a child is expected to clean his room, he should not go play a game until the room is clean. Or, if your child has a daily chore to load the dishwasher and he is not getting the dishwasher loaded, he should lose a privilege or have a consequence added until he begins doing what's been asked of him. Read another article with more ideas about privileges and consequences.

5. Celebrate the accomplishment of chores.
Encourage your family and thank them for helping with housework by celebrating together. Go out for ice cream, or enjoy a movie and some special treats together after the daily or weekly chores are finished. Don't forget to thank your family members for the work they do. Look each person in the eyes and sincerely thank them. Write a note of appreciation or give them a little treat to show them you are thankful for their help. Appreciation goes a long way towards motivation to further action.

6. Update the plan from time to time.
Chores change with the seasons and as things change in your household. From time to time, get together with your family to update and revise the plan. Read an article about new stages and updating chore lists!

Andrea Simanson is a wife and mother of three children, and the website and ezine editor of Successful Family Chores - Putting FUN and ENERGY into everyday tasks. For a regular dose of family organizational ideas and chore tips, sign up for her free bi-monthly newsletter by clicking here.