Summary: Responsibility One of the best ways to teach our children personal responsibility is by allowing them to have family chores around the house. We have to be prepared as parents for the chore process. It is more involved then simply telling your child what chore they will be doing. First we need to take the time, maybe in a family meeting, to explain why we do chores. (the reason is we are all a member of this team called family and we all work together to get things done, parents and children) Next we need to take the time to explain our expectation for the chores. This may mean taking the time to actually do the chore with your child the first time so they can see what your expectation is. Next we have to monitor and check the chores. Finally we have to process what are the rewards and consequences for chores. The reward may even be as simple as verbal praise but there must be some form of affirmation for a job well done. Sounds like a lot of work but we as parents need to decide where our focus is, are we training focused, time focused or task focused? Meaning is our focus on the fact that I can get this job done so much faster or so much better or is it on training our children to be responsible? Chores are not about teaching our children life skills, although that is a benefit, the are about teaching your child they are a contributing member of the family. We set our children up for success when we teach them this because they can go through life not only being responsible adults but adults who look for ways to contribute. We are helping to model not the “what can I get†attitude but because I am a part of this what is my responsibility to give?  Listen to today’s podcast for more insight on this topic.
