I’m not sure how many other households have broomsticks hanging from their children’s bedrooms doors, but here it’s a common occurrence. The problem is the brooms are just about as good for flying as they are for sweeping.
The question becomes, how do you get your children to do “chores?” I feel like it should be an innate sense for the children. They should just know how to do things. The developmental stages should look like this:
Periods of Human Development
- Prenatal Development= NO CHORES
- Easy… your parents fall in love and then you’re born.
- Chore Example: Just sleep and don’t keep your parents up all night.
- Easy… your parents fall in love and then you’re born.
- Infancy and Toddlerhood= EASY CHORES
- Brain development happens at a remarkable rate, as does physical growth and language development. Infants have their own temperaments and approaches to play.
- Chore Example: Acknowledge your own mess and at least watch us put away your crap
- Brain development happens at a remarkable rate, as does physical growth and language development. Infants have their own temperaments and approaches to play.
- Early Childhood= MID LEVEL CHORES
- At this stage your child is busy learning language (with amazing growth in vocabulary), is gaining a sense of self and greater independence, and is beginning to learn the workings of the physical world. This knowledge does not come quickly, however, and preschoolers may initially have interesting conceptions of size, time, space and distance
- Chore Example: Complain that it’s time to clean up your mess and put away your own crap, but still do it once things start getting taken away.
- At this stage your child is busy learning language (with amazing growth in vocabulary), is gaining a sense of self and greater independence, and is beginning to learn the workings of the physical world. This knowledge does not come quickly, however, and preschoolers may initially have interesting conceptions of size, time, space and distance
- Middle Childhood= REGULAR CHORES
- Now the world becomes one of learning and testing new academic skills and assessing one’s abilities and accomplishments by making comparisons between self and others.
- Chore Example: Pay close attention to how everyone else cleans up after themself and make sure you at least replicate that in order to not embarrass your parents in front of their friends or colleagues.
- Now the world becomes one of learning and testing new academic skills and assessing one’s abilities and accomplishments by making comparisons between self and others.
- Adolescence= ADVANCED CHORES
- Teens typically struggle to become more independent from their parents. With that being said, friends become more important, as teenagers strive for a sense of belonging and acceptance from their peer group
- Chore Example: If you want independence from your parents and adults in your live then clean up your own crap.
- Teens typically struggle to become more independent from their parents. With that being said, friends become more important, as teenagers strive for a sense of belonging and acceptance from their peer group
Sorry Sons: Chronicles of a New Dad 