Our teens are busy, our teens are stressed, we love our teens. These are all true, but these are not good excuses for forgetting about making them do chores. It’s much bigger than just having them do stuff around the house for you. Here are five reasons why you should absolutely, definitely, positively require your teen to do chores.
- #1. IT MAKES THEM FEEL NEEDED. Our teens are not going to jump up for joy when you ask them to do a chore. They may huff and puff and procrastinate. It’s worth it, though, for the bigger picture. You are telling them that you NEED them and that the family NEEDS them.
- #2. IT TEACHES THEM SCHOOL/LIFE BALANCE. As all adults know, our lives are not one-dimensional. If you have big projects going on at work, the rest of your responsibilities do not go away. By requiring your teens to do chores, you are teaching them how important it is to pay attention to all areas of their life including doing the dishes, showering, and relaxing.
- #3. IT SHOWS THEM YOU TRUST THEM. You might have to nag and cajole to get your teen to do their chores, but you are telling them that you trust their abilities to do a particular task. As part of this, when you give them a task to do, make sure you praise them for doing it even if it wasn’t quite up to your standards.
- #4. IT TEACHES THEM PERSPECTIVE. There is a lot of pressure on a teen if they feel that their accomplishments and schoolwork are what make the world go round. By requiring them to do chores, even if they are a star soccer player or enrolled in 5 AP classes, you are reminding them that they are part of something bigger than themselves. That relieves some pressure.
- #5. THEY BECOME SELF-SUFFICIENT. Our ultimate goal as parents is to nurture our children to become self-sufficient and confident young adults. If we do everything for them, they aren’t able to learn the skills it requires to take care of themselves.
- With Heart,
- Coach Sheri
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