Mission Impossible: Making Chores Fun for the Whole Family

It’s the plight of parents around the globe: chores, and who’s doing what. In order to keep kids engaged and, dare we say excited, parents have to put their thinking caps on and get creative. To help get your children cheering for chores (or at least get them up and moving with a little less grumbling), keep reading for ideas to make chores less chore-y for the whole family.

• Create a chore wheel: Chore charts are out, the wheel is in. Make 2 circles, one large and one small. Put all of the names on one circle, and individual chores on different parts of the chore wheel. Spin it every day or a set night of your family’s choosing. The variety might help break up the boredom of doing the same chores. We started this idea about 2 years ago in our house and it’s been quite fun. Our daughters look forward to Sunday evening when they get to turn the wheel to the next spot. Because of that we make sure that some of the chores are really fun. For example, we added a chore called Menu and the person that has that chore gets to select the menu of dinner meals for the week.

• Use a chore “punch card”: after so many chores are completed each week, reward your child with different prizes or outings. Vary the amount of chores that need to be done and the rewards every week in order to keep your child wondering what they’ll get next!
• Make chore dice: similar to the chore wheel, but just another twist on changing up the chores. Using cardstock, make a cube and let your children decorate each side. Write one chore per side and even include a free choice option or a pass option! To make this even more fun, consider making a family chore game board and move across the board each week to the finish. The first person to the finish gets to choose their favorite dinner, pick a movie for movie night, or go someplace special.
• “Scratch off” chore charts: make chore charts so your children are surprised every morning (or whenever your family does their chores) with pre-made scratch off stickers.
• Get involved: Parents, make sure you get involved, too. The more your children see you helping with chores, the more likely they are to help and get pumped themselves.

Keeping your home nice and tidy AND instilling responsibility into your children are easily (ok, maybe it takes a bit)  attainable with a little bit of creativity and time.

I’d love to hear from you and what you do to share the work in your family.