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Every child has their own way of learning and as a parent I believe it is our responsibility to find out how to teach them in a special way that will contribute to their own needs. My son is four years old and I used to date an older man who had three children, two females ages thirteen, fifteen, and a son the age of ten. When I first moved in I noticed that his children had no chores and I was consistently picking up after them and they ran the house with a behavior that was considered unacceptable to me. I also noticed that my son would pick up their filthy habits such as leaving his toys out of his toy box and not giving me his dirty dishes to put in the sink. Once I picked up on this behavior I decided to make a chore list of house duties that would be fair to each of them that consisted of their age.

I made a community house board that hung on the wall that was visible as soon as you walked into the front door. The board had four small pocket holders with each kids name written on the outside that included index cards that slipped inside with their chores written on one side and a description of what duties were included on the other. I let the kids choose the color of their pockets and a picture that they wanted on the outside to represent their own personality. The board was low enough that my son was also able to reach it. When they came home from school they were allowed a thirty minute snack time which consisted of them cleaning up their own mess. Once this was completed they would put their school items into their bedrooms and proceed to the chore list to do their chores.

Some chores were not able to be done until after dinner so once we finished eating I would have them go to their rooms to do homework as I checked their chores. If they did not complete their chores I would wait until they were finished with their homework and then guide them through the chores that they missed or did not complete. If they chose not to complete their tasks they would get some form of punishment such as no TV the next day or no school dance the following week.

I noticed that once they got a hang of the routine that their behavior became more acceptable and they learned many new things. They learned how to contribute to the family and they began to do team work so they could get their chores done early so they would have more fun things to do. They began to show respect around the house and would pick up after themselves because they noticed that it was less of a hassle to do it now rather than later. My four year old son started to pick up his own toys and would ask politely if others would help him if needed.

The children became more organized and it even showed at school and this showed them that they were able to accomplish better grades. The children have become more helpful not only to family but their friends as well. I have learned from many parents that children who put off playing to complete necessary tasks become more successful in life than others. I hope that they begin to notice that they can learn even more as they continue on the path of successfulness and I hope that this article has been beneficial to other parents as these techniques have worked wonders for me.

Learn more about this author, Rebecca Florido.
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