Muffins with Mom – How do you get your child to complete chores?

Photo Credit: Daily Parent

Have you ever struggled with getting your child to complete household chores? You are not alone…and it does not seem to end as they grow into young adulthood. I called my son one day and asked, “Are you going to surprise me and have the house clean when I get home?”

His response was, “I don’t want to shock you. I care about your mental health.”

True to his word, my son did not shock me. The house was still in disarray when I arrived home.

How do you get your child (or young adult) to complete chores?

The other day my son said to me, “Ma, I need gas money.”

“You can mow the lawn and pull weeds for me and I’ll give you gas money.”

“I don’t know about that, you like to pay slave wages.”

It appears to have become a barter system to get any work done around my house. With both my sons’ home for the summer and working, we only occasionally cross paths. I had to call a family meeting.

Here is how we get chores done:

·       Assign tasks and consequences – each son has a set of tasks, if they want to trade with each other, I leave that up to them. However, if a task is not completed, they don’t receive their gas money or whatever we have agreed upon.

·       Set deadlines for task completion – have you ever told your child clean their room or put away the dishes, and a day later the task is not complete? I have walked around the same t-shirt my son left in the living room for two days. I had to issue an ultimatum, set a deadline and up the stakes for him.

·       Double team them – I call Granny. You call replace “Granny” with another family member. My mother likes to give my sons gas money when they ask or have them do chores for her. She will have them work 30 minutes, then take them to lunch AND pay them! I tell them that I will tell Granny not pay them. Sometimes this works, sometimes my sons just laugh.

What are your suggestions for getting your child to complete chores?