Life Skills: Benefits of Chores for Kids

• Chores benefit children by building confidence, responsibility, teamwork, and practical life skills that prepare them for adulthood.

• Most household tasks such as washing dishes or making a bed only take a few minutes to complete, making them perfect for kids with busy schedules.

• Chores benefit the whole family by reducing parents’ workload and stress, therefore, creating more time to spend with each other.

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Chores. The age-old debate in many households; should your kids be given chores. There are a variety of arguments against children being given extra responsibilities these days since they have a full day of school, a wide range of after-school activities, and a line of daily homework. Many kids do not get home until 5 or 6 o’clock in the evenings and then it is dinner, family time, homework, and bedtime routines. There seems to be not enough time to push chores into the mix.

However, there are many benefits to giving children chores. It builds confidence, teaches responsibility and essential life skills, and helps them understand that they are an important working ‘cog’ in the wheel that is your family. Not to mention that most chores take just a couple of minutes (max) to finish and many only take a few seconds. Making the bed, taking out the trash, and feeding the dog take only a minute or two of their time, making them perfect tasks to give busy kids.

And trust me, I understand that getting kids involved in household tasks, especially in a timely manner, is hard. I spent many years finding it faster, and let’s face it, easier, to do things myself. But when we take on all of the household chores ourselves, not only does it increase our workload and stress, but it takes away the opportunity for our kids to learn real-world skills, responsibility, and independence.

Benefits You Say?

Most children, especially young children, love to help out. Whether it’s helping put away laundry, helping to put dishes in the dishwasher, or just helping around outside of the house, it makes them feel involved in our lives and keeps them close to their favorite people, their parents. Praising them for their help makes them feel important and appreciated. That boost in self-esteem and lessons in empathy are just a few benefits of kids doing chores.

• Boosts confidence, self-esteem, and well-being – Finishing a task successfully, no matter how small, gives children a great sense of accomplishment. When they finish a chore on their own, they feel proud of not only their independence, but also for contributing to their family. It also gives them confidence in their ability to tackle new challenges.
• Teaches responsibility and time-management – When children are expected to make their beds, fold their laundry, or feed a pet, they learn that their actions matter and make an impact on the entire family. They begin to understand that everyone in a family has a role to play. Completing chores on time also helps children develop good habits, such as accountability and time-management, that can better prepare them for school, work, and other pursuits later in life.
• Fosters teamwork and cooperation – Families work best when everyone helps out. When children contribute to household tasks, they learn to appreciate the effort it takes to keep a home clean and organized. They also develop a sense of teamwork seeing the housework be completed piece-by-piece by everyone in the household. And for tasks requiring more than one person, they learn to better work together to successfully get the job done.
• Teaches life skills – I feel that one of the biggest benefits of chores is that they teach practical life skills. Knowing how to do laundry, clean, cook simple meals, and complete simple household fixes are skills that every adult needs. By practicing these tasks at a young age, children not only become more independent, but they become better prepared for their future.
• Encourages long-term success – Research has indicated that starting chores early encourages independence and resilience later in life. Routine chores help create structure, foster independence, and boosts confidence which will help your child as they navigate through life.

Not Just for Them

Giving your kids household chores lightens your workload, that is obvious. However, because of the lightened load (however slight) you are more likely to be less stressed, less busy, and therefore able to spend more quality time with your family. For example, if after dinner the kids help out with washing dishes, loading the dishwasher, putting away leftovers, cleaning the table, and sweeping the floor, then the work will be done within minutes instead of you spending half-an-hour or more doing those tasks yourself. Since you now have some extra time, you can spend it playing a family game, reading together, or watching an episode of your family’s favorite show. So not only are your kids developing responsibility and learning valuable life skills, but it also leads to everyone being able to spend more time together having fun.

While most children think of chores as boring or unfair, they actually provide many important benefits. Completing household tasks helps kids learn responsibility, build important life skills, increase confidence, and encourage teamwork. And although chores may not always be fun, they help children become responsible, capable, and independent adults.

What are some chores that your children do and at what age did you start giving them more responsibility? Leave a comment down below to help out fellow homeschooling familes who are looking for some ideas.