Printable Chore Charts For Kids - Cleaning A School - Age Bedroom
Lots of parents print out a chore chart, post it on the fridge and never give it another thought. That's usually a good way to have a miserable experience with a perfectly respectable chore chart.
There are lots of roads to success using task charts. Here is a good path if you are struggling with a school-age child who just can't seem to keep up with any chores at all.
- Focus on just one thing.
A key secret of success in any endeavor is to make the first steps easy and obtainable. If the goal is a reasonably clean bedroom that can be maintained by your child with a minimum of muss and fuss, then use your chart for only that one task.
The goal here is to make the job so simple your child will trip over success and get a few "aha" moments in the process. Structure your chore chart something like this:
Put clothes away.
Pick up floor.
Clean off any table or drawer tops.
Make bed.
Vacuum and dust.
Now the first 4 items are daily (if that's what you want) and the last could be weekly, as an example.
Make sure you provide the tools necessary for success; drawers and a closet of some sort to put the clothes away, shelves, bins and hooks for toys, books, etc. And do both you and your child a huge favor and make the bed really easy to make.
Put a time limit for each item beside the task on the chart. Give your child a timer and explain that she gets to race against the clock for each item. Make it even more fun by having two kids - or you and your child - race to get a task done in the same amount of time.
Shut down the household while chore time is going on. No TV, no movies, nothing distracting. Teach focus and the character trait "work now, play later." Use printable chore charts for kids as giant to-do lists, checking off each item and celebrating another job well done.
Even if it's only getting the floor clean.
The idea here is twofold. You're helping your child to stay focused on both the cleaning tasks and his own activity. Opening his mind to the truth that he can use his own energy to make things happen - the things he wants to happen.
First it's getting her room clean in a fast and easy manner using kids' charts found online. Next it's designing a science project for school that answers a question she's always had...and she knows she can accomplish such a project because she tackles her own household projects each week.
And successfully gets them done. Every time.
