Your Therapy Source Magazine for Pediatric Therapists April 2015 | Page 6

3 Reasons Why Children Should Do Chores

Performing chores teaches children important life skills. Here are 3 reasons of why children
should do chores:
1. Some research indicated that children who started chores at a young age, grow up to form
good relationships with family and friends, to achieve academic and early career success and
to be self-sufficient.
2. Children learn empathy when performing chores especially when the chores focus on
helping the family not themselves. They learn that helping others can be rewarding.
3. Children learn to understand and accept responsibility.
Here are a few tips to help children be motivated to do their chores:
Provide positive reinforcement – praise for a job well done especially if the chores are
completed without a reminder
Provide incentives – It may be helpful to provide an allowance or sticker chart to earn a
reward after completing chores. There are some fun apps out there that can help motivate
children to complete their chores.
Set a good example – remember to do your own chores
Ask children to be “helpers” versus “to help”. Read more about this from a previous blog post
entitled “Help” or “Helper” for Life Skills at
http://yourtherapysource.com/blog1/2014/05/07/help-or-helper-for-life-skills/
Reference: Wallace, J. Why Children Need Chores. Retrieved from the Wall Street Journal on
3/18/15 at http://www.wsj.com/articles/why-children-need-chores-1426262655
Why not try focusing on one life skill per month? Life Skills of the Month at
http://yourtherapysource.com/lifeskills.html includes 12 hand outs and posters to encourage
practicing life skills throughout the year provided in Word and pdf format.

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