Good Habits for Children

Have you ever wondered how some parents end up with responsible kids? The type of kids that do their chores without being asked, handling their money like an adult and even getting their homework done without being told to! (What!? Not possible!)

Well guess what, YOU can raise responsible kids too! Yes, you! Here are some easy steps you can implement in your child’s daily routine now, so you can be that much closer to having a responsible kid.

“Chores”

I know everyone has heard of giving your child chores in order to teach them responsibility, but we’re going to do it a little different and change the way we approach it with our kids.

Why?

It’s no secret that kids love doing anything but chores, shoot even adults feel the same way! But we can all agree that we love getting rewards, right? So here’s what you do…

Depending on your child’s age, you can give them an incentive or paycheck whenever they complete their chores for the week. For instance, my 9-year old gets $9 at the end of the chore week when she completes all of her chores. (Money can even be given to the younger kids, we’ll get to that later in this post.)

Here’s how to implement it so they become responsible kids:

• Go through each chore with them and tell them exactly how you expect them to complete it. (ex. Take out the trash- Go to each trash bin in the house, empty it and put a clean trash bag in place of the old, then throw all the trash in the outside bin.)
• Let them know that they only get a whole paycheck if they complete their chores everyday. (ex. They miss taking out the trash on Monday, you let them know that you will take $0.50 or $1.00 out of their paycheck, and every time they miss a chore. Make sure you let them know they still need to complete the chore even after they miss it.)
• Choose a day to be their payday (in our house we chose Saturday to be payday). When payday comes around, your child needs to show you their chore list in order to get paid.

There’s a free chore list in the printables tab

By giving the child a paycheck, they will be much more motivated to remember and get their chores done each week. It also helps to have the weekly chore list hanging somewhere visible, so they can be accountable and check off what chores they have and have not done yet.

Let’s talk about that paycheck.

In order for someone to get a paycheck in the ‘real world’, they would need to accomplish all the tasks that were assigned to them, right? Well, this is exactly the mindset we’re going to implement within our kids.

Why?

As parents, we need to make sure these kids are prepared for the real world. The best way to do that is to incorporate real life situations into their routines.

When it comes to teaching kids how to handle money, you need to keep it as simple as possible. The easier it is for a child to learn how to handle money while they’re young, the easier it is for them to remember when they’re older.

Here’s how to implement it so they become responsible kids:

• Give your child 3 envelopes labeled: ‘SAVINGS’ ‘SPENDING’ and ‘GIVING’.
• Depending on how much their paycheck is, they will need to divide it evenly amongst the 3 envelopes. (ex. Paycheck is $9 = $3 in Savings, $3 in Spending, $3 in Giving)
• Explain to your child that: the ‘SAVINGS’ envelope can only to be spent for long term goals (a real expensive bike, a ticket to Disneyland, etc.), the ‘SPENDING’ envelope can be used on anything they want to purchase, and the ‘GIVING’ envelope is money to be spent on others (tithe for church, or to purchase a gift for a family member/friend).

Make sure to let your child make their own decisions on what they will choose to spend their ‘SPENDING’ money on (you can of course intervene if it’s something unsafe). This will help them learn the value of money and the reward of completing their tasks.

Live by the alarm.

Sometimes even with the best intentions, people forget things and it’s no different for kids. The best thing you can implement, to raise a responsible kid, is an alarm system.

Why?

We want to set our children up for success. In order to do that we need to give them the right tools. In this case, an alarm clock can help them remember to do the things that they need to do, even if they’re in the middle of something.

You can use a phone or tablet; anything that has the ability to set multiple alarms.

Here’s how to implement it so they become responsible kids:

• List out all the tasks they need to do in a day. (ex. wake up, feed dogs, take shower, chores…)
• Then set an alarm for each task. (ex. wake up 6:45a; do homework 3:45p; start chores 5:30p; get ready for bed 7:45p)
• Make sure to explain to your child that they need to keep their alarm within hearing distance. Then once the alarm goes off, they need to stop what they’re doing and complete the task.

This will get them in the habit of using an alarm system. Which will help them implement accountability and time management into their daily routine; and this is so important when they become adults.

There you have it!

The last 2 pieces of advice I want to give to you are: #1 make sure you are consistent with these strategies and #2 don’t give up (you got this!). By implementing these easy-to-do strategies into your child’s daily routine, you will be one step closer to raising a responsible kid.

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