School AGE
Teaching
Children Household
Responsibility
Age Appropriate
Chores and
Rewards for
Your Child
Leads to a Lifetime
of Success
A
ccording to
H. Stephen Glenn
and Jane Nelsen in
Raising Self-Reliant
Children in a Self-
Indulgent World, “A belief in one’s
personal capabilities is an essential
building block for successful adult-
hood.” The best way for children to
achieve this sense of capability is to be
assigned household responsibilities.
Offering children such opportuni-
ties makes them feel essential to the
family unit and teaches basic skills,
12
BERMUDA PARENT MAGAZINE
acceptance of responsibility, and self-
discipline. Ultimately, it leads to self-
esteem and a successful, fulfilling life.
Reward
Whether to compensate and reward
children for their work is a difficult
question. Conflicting opinions are
held by child specialists which don’t
help. But one thing is certain. Expe-
riencing self-satisfaction from work is
important. Even adults receive com-
pensation for their work. In turn, they
reward themselves in many ways, from
BY KIMBERLY BLAKER
mini shopping sprees and eating out
to buying recreational toys and taking
expensive vacations.
So your best bet is to take a middle-
of-the-road approach. Assign your
children some responsibilities without
reward, such as cleaning their rooms
and taking care of personal belongings.
This can provide self-satisfaction.
But also offer an allowance or
rewards for additional tasks. Children
learn valuable lessons from earning as
well. They learn to budget and handle
money and come to understand
hard work pays off, just as it does in
the adult world. Whether your child
receives a reward for a particular task
or not, always praise the efforts. This
helps to reinforce the intrinsic value of
completing a task.