• Leslye's son Chase cleaned his room and while it's not perfect, she only had to ask him "twice"!
  • Involve your kids with the establishment of chores. Don't just assign kids to tasks; present them with choices and ask their thoughts about where they think they can make the great contribution to the family. If the end goal is to teach responsibility and family contributions, then let them be part of the process.

  • Establish quality standards up front. As most parents know, kid chores are often not performed at the same quality standard if they done by an adult. But the lesson here is two-fold: 1) the task is something that needs to be done in the house; and 2) the repetition of the chore should help to improve the quality of work by the child with time. A kid may not rake leaves effectively the first time around, but each time should improve.

  • Set consequences as a team. A family is a team, and all individuals (as age allows) should pitch it to duties. If someone fails to do a job, it either doesn't get done and affects everyone else, or it can cause a disruption or concern in the household. Children need to first be told why a chore is important and why it must be done. Once a kid understands its importance, he or she should be involved with the establishment of a consequence if it's not done. If a kid chore is keeping his bedroom clean, then a consequence can be as simple as no playing with friends period at their house or yours until it is clean.
  • Don't give in to chore battles. It's inevitable that a child will attempt to barter or negotiate why a chore doesn't need to be done--either at all or at the designated time. Parents often err by giving in once or twice only to find their authority is then undermined. Once the expectations have been set, there is really nothing more to discuss. Most likely your kids will spend more time trying to argue about it than it would have to have simply done the chore; a fact you can always remind them of. The key is to not become mad or upset; simply ignore or tune-out grumbles and don't give in.