Creative Child
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This Is the Second Most Important Thing You Can Do to Ensure Your Child Grows Up Happy and Successful.



        Written by: Deborah Song

        

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This Is the Second Most Important Thing You Can Do to Ensure Your Child Grows Up Happy and Successful.

by Deborah Song

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I personally think to each his own when it comes to allowance and chores. How you want to get kids to do chores is entirely up to the parent. The important thing is to get a child participating as a productive member of the family.

 

Here are some appropriate chore ideas for young kids.

  1. Make your bed. Admiral McRaven's inspiring graduation speech that went viral and eventually turned into a best-selling book had one compelling message: If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.  Teaching your child to make his bed helps your child start the day off by having accomplished something right off the bat. It’s a powerful practice to instill and a chore that can be easily tackled by any child. The caveat says McRaven: Don’t remake their beds.
  2. Clean your area. This one needs to be specific and manageable. If your kids are going to clean their room, they need to know where things go. Organizing and labeling bins is a great place to start. Another thing that has worked great for my kids is to set a timer and make them clean for no more than 5 minutes at a time. This way, they aren’t overwhelmed by the mess. They simply need to be focused on getting as much cleaning done as possible for a very manageable amount of time. This also teaches them to focus on the effort instead of the result.
  3. Put away laundry. Folding clothes might be a tall order for young kids, but putting folded clothes is a much easier task. In order for a child to be able to do this, their drawers would first need to be organized in a way where they can easily locate where shorts should go or where socks should go.
  4. Set the table. Taking part in preparing dinner, whether it’s by setting the napkins, spoons and forks or pouring water into a cup, is also a great way for kids to become more invested in the dinner meal they are about to consume. You may find them more interested in the food they are about to eat.
  5. Pack your lunch. If you’re going to have your child pack their own lunch, a preplanned lunch meal plan will go a long way. This way, they will know what to pack ahead of time. In time, you may actually hear some much wanted input on what they would like to eat for lunch.

Deborah Song

 
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