Children entering their teens need to learn valuable skills about maintenance since they don’t rely on you to wipe their nose anymore, but it can be hard to encourage them to pick up new chores. Well, here are some chores they will actually do because they are awesome learning opportunities and have quality incentives. I promise they will thank you for these daily life lessons. Skip the arguing and fighting and use these 6 chores to help your teen grow up while lightening your load of household duties.
Table of Contents
1.Running Errands with Their New Car
While you can enjoy sitting back while they drive themselves to school and practice, there’s a lot more you can get out of a driving teenager. When they’re out and about, give them grocery lists and other small errands they can accomplish. They’ll love the opportunity to get behind the wheel and it can teach time management when they should run to the dry cleaners after school and be home in time for dinner. They’ll be better navigators and understand how long certain errands take so they can prepare for their own laundry lists in the future.
2.Doing Laundry Once a Week
Do you ever have arguments like, “Mom, is this clean? I need it right now!” You’ll never hear them ask again if you teach them how to handle their own laundry. I can’t tell you how useful this will be when your teen goes off to college and suddenly needs to change their bedsheets and wash clothing on a regular basis. This is a great lesson for teens who want to expand their wardrobe too because they will learn how to treat different garments with different washer settings. Try doing laundry together to make sure their load doesn’t pile up and turn it into a bonding opportunity. Maybe you decide to fold the laundry together while watching your favorite show or discussing that great book you recommended.
3.Learning How to be a Sous-Chef
Cooking is another great chore you can get teens on board with because you can do it with them. Bonding over the stovetop will generate warm memories of meals shared, while also developing a crucial skill. I suggest having your teen work as your sous-chef so they can learn how to follow a recipe, how to handle certain ingredients, develop knife and appliance skills, and come to love new types of cuisine. One of my favorite ways to teach teens how to cook is to have them plan out their own menu for dinner once or twice a week. There will probably be a lot of burnt veggies or unbalanced sauces in the beginning, but it’s all part of the process. If your teen doesn’t like what’s for dinner, try challenging them to make whatever they want and share it together as a family.
4.Pay Them for Yard Work as a Part Time Job
Another great tip for teaching responsibility is putting your teen in charge of yard work, and maybe even replacing a gardening service. They’ll do it because you can offer them cash! I’d consider offering to pay something small like five dollars per hour, and they will start to make the connection between working hard at something and making an earning. Plus, simple, but laborious tasks such as mowing the lawn, watering the plants, and weeding can show your teen the value of hard work with a beautiful result. This is a lesson they will take far into their adult life.
5.Pick One Room per Week to Collaborate on Cleaning
Your teen might already help out by cleaning their room or doing the dishes, but I’m talking about doing deep cleaning. Scrubbing the bathroom tiles, mopping the kitchen, getting under the furniture, all that good stuff. Use this opportunity to show them which cleaning agents are appropriate for which jobs, and be sure to join them in the task so they can gauge how much work constitutes a ‘clean’ room.
Try picking one room per week that you can work on together and go through the nitty gritty. You don’t want them to feel like you’re taking advantage of them so that’s why you do it with them. You also don’t want them to cut corners, so it’s important to clean side by side. My final tip is to suggest not micromanaging, but letting your teen experiment with their own way of getting the job done. It might not be fun at first, but a lot of teens report feeling a sense of calm and satisfaction after tidying up a dirty space.
6.Babysitting Younger Siblings
Possibly one of the greatest tactics you can use to teach a teach responsibility is to have them step into the shoes of the parent, and they’ll be happy to do it because it’s a chance to make babysitting money. If your teen has younger siblings, try putting your teen in charge of the kids for an evening while you take the night off. Remember that you are just a phone call away and can coach them through the difficult parts of managing children.
Your teen will likely pick up problem solving skills as the youngsters at home experience the need for help from the older sibling. Maybe they need reminders to brush their teeth, put away their toys, clean up after eating, or to make it to the dinner table in the first place. The more your teen is forced to monitor the needs of children, the more accomplished they will feel about their own self-reliance. Your teen will also gain a sense of appreciation for all the hard work that goes into rearing children, and might act more respectfully to you as a parent in return.
Success!
Your teen might take up these chores happily because they teach great skills and a few of them allow your teen to earn an extra couple bucks. Don’t stress out about fighting over the dishwasher or whose room needs to be clean, get them excited to help out by diving into these chores with them and working alongside your teen as a team. Your home will look great and your teen will learn how to be more independent.
Suggested Metatags:
6 Ways Your Teenager Can Start Helping Out Around the House
Here are six chores your teen will actually do. I promise they will thank you for these daily life lessons.
Author Bio:
Andy Earle is a researcher who studies parent-teen communication and adolescent risk behaviors. He is the co-founder of talkingtoteens.com and host of the Talking to Teens podcast, a free weekly talk show for parents of teenagers.
