Delegating Chores to Your Children
When delegating chores to a child, you must show them how to do the task first. Do the job yourself and let them watch. Then let them help. Then let them do it while you watch. Finally, let them do it alone.
By teaching your children to put away their things and do their household chores they will grow to be independent, organized, and responsible people. But they can only learn by you showing them.
Do more with your children and less for them. Read more about delegating chores. Share on X
Need more inspiration to get the kids involved? Check out some of our other posts.
Teaching My Kids a Laundry Lesson
10 Chores Your Preschooler Can Do
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Janet Schiesl
Janet has been organizing since 2005. She is a Certified Professional Organizer and the owner of Basic Organization.
She loves using her background as a space planner to challenge her clients to look at their space differently. She leads the team in large projects and works one-on-one with clients to help the process move quickly and comfortably. Call her crazy, but she loves to work with paper, to purge what is not needed and to create filing systems that work for each individual client.
Janet is a Past Board Member of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals and a Past President of the Washington DC Chapter of NAPO were she has been named Organizer of the Year and Volunteer of the Year.
Janet Schiesl
Janet has been organizing since 2005. She is a Certified Professional Organizer and the owner of Basic Organization.
She loves using her background as a space planner to challenge her clients to look at their space differently. She leads the team in large projects and works one-on-one with clients to help the process move quickly and comfortably. Call her crazy, but she loves to work with paper, to purge what is not needed and to create filing systems that work for each individual client.
Janet is a Past Board Member of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals and a Past President of the Washington DC Chapter of NAPO were she has been named Organizer of the Year and Volunteer of the Year.
Something else to keep in mind is to be prepared to accept imperfection. The kids never got things quite as clean as I would have liked, but I knew that what got missed one time would be dealt with next time. And I was concerned that if I made them feel their work wasn’t good enough, they might not try as hard next time, figuring I would never be satisfied.
i agree with you. When delegating to anyone (kids or adults) you have to realize that they aren’t going to do the task exactly like you. Maybe just different and maybe not up to you expectations. But, delegating still frees up your time to do something else and as you said, if you go back and redo what someone else has done they won’t be motivated to continue doing that task.
I love this, and Janet’s comment. I think I was not very good at accepting the results they were able to achieve. I always wanted things “my way.” I’m glad to say I’ve become more aware of this, and am much better now than I used to be.
Excellent tip to have them do it while you watch, in case they have questions when they actually do it themselves.
Thanks Seana. Yes, it’s sometimes hard to control ourselves when teaching kids. Patience is key! 🙂
This is so true! I think we expect kids to know how to do things, when in reality they’ve never been taught. Thank you for the reminder!
Thanks Jana. We definitely need to show by example.
Love this so much! If we only do for our kids, they won’t gain confidence to do things for themselves including making decisions. When our kids were young, there was a video they loved watching, especially our oldest. It was a video of little kids doing things like the “jacket flip,” which was a method for putting on your jacket. Or, they made a fruit salad with easy to cut fruits like bananas and strawberries. Allison used to watch it and then imitate the kids. She’d stand in front of the video practicing the jacket flip. Another time she ran into the kitchen, pulled a step stool up to the counter, and started making a fruit salad. She was only 3.
We always loved teaching our kids new skills and giving them the space to experiment. All this is to say that kids actually like doing things. And if you give them the time and space to learn, you’ll gift them something wonderful and life-changing.
Thanks Linda. So true. It always makes you smile when you see their accomplishments. Especially at three years old. Precious!
I love that you pointed out that to delegate, you must first teach. It reminds me of the medical school expression about procedures: “Watch one, do one, teach one.” Parents can role model the behavior related to the task, then share the task (applying gentle corrections) and then delegate once the child has the competence and confidence necessary!
I also think Seana’s point is apt. Whether as a child at home, a student at school, or an employee at work, feeling that it must be perfect (and perfectly done in some other person’s way) is a sure recipe for discouragement. Don’t we always say, “Done is better than perfect!” to our clients?
I sometimes tell clients: to teach their kids and then look away.
No one new to a skill is going to do it as perfectly as someone who’s a master at the skill.
Also with kids, you’ve got to pick your battles.