Following on from our recent blog “Age appropriate chores for children to help them learn valuable life skills,” we now wanted to focus on the valuable life skills that they learn through doing such chores.
No matter what age your children are, there are always tasks that you can assign them to not only help make family life run smoother but to help them grow up to be productive members of society too.
If you think giving children chores is mean or that your children wouldn’t help you put their toys away or wipe down the kitchen counters in a million years, here are 5 reasons why it actually does children a lot of good. Here are 5 valuable life skills that they will learn which are essential to surviving in the adult world.
5 skills that children learn
Skill 1: Responsibility
While picking up fallen toys or dirty laundry is a major part of every parent’s daily life, it shouldn’t just fall on you to do it. Help your children learn how to be responsible for themselves and their own belongings.
You can have dedicated spots for shoes, jackets, and backpacks as well as boxes for toys, and you can have dedicated clean up times or just form positive daily routines (i.e. as soon as they walk through the door, their jacket and shoes should be placed in their spot etc). As your children grow, they will be aware of their belongings and their responsibility to carry and not lose them.
Skill 2: Independence & Self-reliance
The idea of your little ones leaving home may seem like a long way away in the future yet and it is, but there are a lot of life skills to be learnt in that time. As adults, they will need to know at least the basics, such as cleaning, cooking, laundry, managing money etc, and it’s never too young to start.
Just make sure that you choose age-appropriate chores to help foster these skills (e.g. young children can help you load the washing machine or pair the socks whereas older children can learn how to use the machine). The more you can give your children responsibilities, no matter how small, the more independent and self-reliant they’ll become which is essential for the real world.
Skill 3: Self-confidence
Being confident in our own abilities is something that we all struggle with at some point in our lives, but those with a positive attitude and mindset are able to not let this feeling bring them down. By fostering self-confidence when our children are young, this helps them create a strong foundation to build on.
By giving your children opportunities to help you around the house, you will see the pride and confidence that they feel after completing certain tasks from start to finish. Not only does this make them feel capable but it also gives them the confidence to work hard to accomplish the challenges that come their way.
Skill 4: Time management
Kids learn quickly that if they want to spend time doing the things that they love, they must first complete their chores in a timely manner before they can get back to fun. This is an essential skill that we could all improve on!
While it is important to let kids be kids when it comes to balancing fun and chores, it is also essential that children build solid time management skills from a young age as well as a strong work ethic. If they do, then balancing school, extracurricular activities, social commitments, and other duties won’t be as difficult or overwhelming for them.
Skill 5: Helpfulness & Contribution
As we said previously, chores not only help you with the workload at home, but they also help your children share responsibility and become contributing members of the household and in society.
Being a part of a family, working together and having your children play their essential role fosters a strong feeling of belonging and being needed and this does wonders for helping them feel good about themselves.
Chores make life easier
If you don’t like the thought of assigning chores to your children, try to think of all the benefits that it brings; not only does it make family life easier so that you can spend more quality time together, but it also teaches your children valuable life skills which will make their own lives easier in the future.
At Schoolhouse Daycare, we enjoy learning, encouraging confidence and we love life! If you think your child would enjoy life at Schoolhouse, then please do not hesitate to arrange a visit.