Household Chores for Kids during the Quarantine

The whole world is at stake due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Staying at home and taking precautions is the only way to stay away from the virus. Due to the pandemic, families are finding it difficult to balance work and child care. Do you feel the same? Are the household chores in your house getting shared fairly? Do your children bother you with their pencil sketch lessons and bath time? Well, here are a few chores for kids that you can engage them with during the quarantine.

Everyday chores for children

Quarantine at home is very challenging especially if you have bored kids at home. They tend to spend most of their time watching television, playing video games, or fiddling through phones. This might make them too lazy and affects their brain activity. Parents need to use this golden opportunity to educate their children the importance of keeping a disciplined routine in household chores. Read more to know about some everyday chores your children can carry out during the quarantine period.

Attack the laundry pile

Yes, you can always start with a big one. Teaching your children to do their laundry can give them lessons on responsibility and make them more independent. This thereby lessens your work. Teaching children to do their laundry can make them more responsible and independent.

Depending on your kids’ age, you can start by guiding them to sort the clothing and folding them properly. Train them to sort out things like underwear, towels, shirts, different fabrics, and so on for washing in different settings. Start showing them the accurate amount of washing soaps, detergents, or liquids to be used without overloading the machine. Instruct them to read labels on the fabric which explains- How it should be washed or dried and the required temperature for doing it. This avoids unnecessary damage to the clothes and the mixing up of dyes. It is important to explain to kids the basics of the stain removal process and the best time to treat a stain after it occurs. You can also take their help for hanging washed clothes for drying.

Clean the kitchen

“Kids are messy in the kitchen” should be the most commonly used dialogue by every mom ever. We need to be very patient while training children in kitchen activities. A boring kitchen cleaning work can make your kids frustrated, and this is why you need to try to give them small activities in the kitchen. The activity does not only stop at washing dishes. You can get their help for cleaning tables, putting away leftovers, scrubbing stove-tops, cleaning counters and floors. Also, involve them in cooking activities by making them more lively and interesting.

You can ask them to rinse vegetables, hand over you with ingredients, stirring, cracking eggs, and other light tasks. But do not pressurize them to do any of the household chores as they might pull back and show less interest in the task. You can reward them with tiny gifts like a bowl full of blueberry jam for their part. This can help the children to make healthy choices along with responsibility for handling kitchen equipment. Cooking is science and it helps the children gain knowledge and basic math skills.

Dust it away

Teaching your kids about dusting is an important thing to do. This is a household chore for your children who are aged 10-15 and capable of being more careful not to break anything around. Well, dusting is usually a time-consuming and boring chore for your children, so let’s make it a little more interesting. Ask them to clean at least five pieces of furniture in their room and set a countdown to finish it. If they can do it within the given time, give them a little reward by cooking their favorite dessert.

This can help to inculcate cleaning habits in children from a very young age. Children love helping parents and they tend to feel very proud about the work accomplished. Do not redo any dusting or cleaning once carried out by your kids. This can create a feeling of what they did was not good enough and this might discourage them. Not only that, it is super helpful for families that are not fortunate enough to hire cleaning professionals.

Ask them to set a dinner table

Teaching your children about organized eating habits is very important. Make use of the colorful–printed table placemats to engage the kids in table setting activities. Apart from other household tasks, this is one of the easiest and fun tasks for the children. If your kid is above 5, teach them the importance of this chore and basic table manners. Make sure to not hand over sharp equipment like knives and forks to young ones. Teach them to fold napkins in creative and appealing ways. While you get ready for having dinner, ask your kids to set the dinner table so that you do not have to spend extra time and effort on doing that. You can easily set the dinner table with your little helpers around.

How to involve children in household chores?

Children love mimicking their parents and you can use this as an advantage to teach your children basic household chores from a very young age. This will not just lessen your stress but at the same time, makes them more responsible and disciplined. They will learn to keep things back to the designated places. Here are a few points that could help you to safely involve your kids in household chores.

• Ask your children about their favorite activity at home
• Make them understand about the work assigned to them
• Teach them that keeping your home neat is your responsibility and not a punishment
• Do not leave children alone in the kitchen without adult supervision.
• Closely monitor them while working with electrical equipment
• Assign them with simple tasks for their age
• Appreciation is a must to keep them motivated
• While rewarding your kids for their contribution, make sure it does not look like bribing.
• Bring fun in every activity they carry out

Conclusion

Teaching your kids to carry out various household chores is not that complicated or exhausting. All it requires is a little patience. You need to turn the activities in an enjoyable manner with creative techniques to mold them into responsible individuals. With families quarantining together, all the rooms are likely to be used on a daily basis and might require regular cleaning. Kids can contribute their part to keep things neat and tidy by developing the habit of tidying up messy rooms. Children tend to make mistakes in the beginning but you need to give them enough time to be efficient and equipped with daily practice.