Every day, somewhere in this world, a parent hangs up a child’s chore chart with great expectations.

– The toys will now be picked up each night. No more tripping over things in the dark!
– The beds will get made each morning – finally!
– The bathrooms will be neat and tidy – no unpleasant surprises or last minute frantic cleaning before guests arrive.

Then, after about two weeks, all of that changes. Doubt creeps in after watching chores get done the first few days and then slowly, and seemingly uncontrollably, life gets back to normal.

– The toys are everywhere underfoot when bedtime comes. And are still underfoot when morning arrives.
– The only beds made are the ones Mom makes. Okay, sometimes Dad, too.
– The bathrooms are gross. You consider putting up a “Do Not Enter” sign, but just shove down your frustration instead.

Your child’s chore charts are not working.

But wait a minute. Why is it that one of the first tools offered to parents when they complain about kids not doing their part around the house is a chore chart?

If it doesn’t work – at all – surely the secret would be out by now, right? Why do chore charts continually get pushed as a sound resource to use with kids of all ages and temperaments?

Truthfully? Because – drum roll – they really can work.

The key to effective usage of all kinds of printable chore charts is

1. planning, and
2. practice.

That’s it. But that’s a big “it”. Any mom or dad who has been parenting kids for longer than about 5 minutes knows that planning and practice with children mean work.

‘Work, planning and practice’ sound suspiciously like adult habits. Which means that if, as a parent, you give away the control of chore charts to your child prematurely, you will be disappointed in their (lack of) results.

In other words, to be effective, especially at the beginning of usage, Mom or Dad must remain firmly in charge of a child’s chore charts and how they are used.

– A parent must do the planning; what chores will go on the chart? How often will they be done? What will the prizes be? What will the consequences be?

– A parent must oversee the practice of using the chore charts for an indefinite amount of time. This involves giving subtle reminders to use the charts. A statement such as “is your chart work completed for the day?” is all that is necessary. Either the work is done and privileges are earned or the chores are not done and the privileges are denied. Very matter-of-fact and straightforward.

Of course, this all needs to be put in age-appropriate verbiage for your child. Nonetheless, once you get the hang of a child’s chore chart system – one YOU develop for your own parenting needs – you will know that each time you use a chore chart in your home, the odds of its successful usage go way up.

You will have a system that you know works and that your child understands. You will know how much you can ask of your child at any given time without overwhelming him but still offering him a reasonable challenge to achieve.

So the next time you print out your child’s chore charts, make sure you are prepared to stay in charge of the process. Both you and your child will benefit, not only from the chores actually getting done, but from your enhanced relationship from cooperating together.

And that’s even better than clean floors each night.

Author Bio: Colleen Langenfeld has been parenting for almost 30 years and can help you enjoy mothering more at http://www.paintedgold.com . Visit her website now and get your child’s chore charts for free plus learn the key to making them work starting today.

Category: Parenting
Keywords: childs chore charts,printable chore charts