What To Do When Your Teenage Child Doesn’t Want To Do Chores
Parents generally get caught in a nagging cycle out of habit; we get stuck in repetitive behaviors just like kids do. Personally, I think giving a general reminder is fine. It’s perfectly okay for parents to say, “All right guys, let’s get to work now.” But after that, they need to get started. The problem with nagging, of course, is that it doesn’t work. Too many times, parents continue to do things that don’t work because they don’t have any other options. Once you turn your back on your child, they stop doing their chores—and then you have to get back on top of them, and the whole cycle repeats itself. With teenagers, this can very frustrating because they can be very annoying with their remarks and smirks or sarcasm, which can just make you get really mad. If you feel like you’re constantly on top of your teenage kids, trying to get them to do their household chores, here are some effective things you can do to give yourself—and them—a break. Steps to follow to get your teenage kids to do chores 1. Stop the show I personally believe that parents really need to learn to stop the show. You might wonder, what does this mean? If your child is not doing his chores, you simply stop everything and tell him or her to have a seat and talk to them about it. You must have a conversation with your kid because, at their age, they are matured enough to understand what they are doing. Find out what his plans are after he finishes the chores and try to motivate him to do it so that he can get enough time to focus on whatever he wants to do later. Appealing to your kid's self-interest is way effective than explaining the abstract concept of responsibility because at their age they actually know their responsibility but do not want to do it. 2. Do not turn the chore into punishment Parents are advised not to use chores as a means of punishment. If somebody misbehaves and does something wrong, don’t give them a consequence of doing the dishes for example. The only time this is acceptable is when your child does something wrong to another sibling. In order to make amends—to right the wrong—they do that person’s chore for them. That’s a physical way of saying, “I was wrong to do that and I’m doing your chore to show you that I’m sincere.” That’s the only time when I advocate that parents use chores as something more than an assigned task. 3. Assign Specific Chores Ahead of Time Asking your teen to do a spontaneous chore can lead to an argument. Put yourself in that situation, where your boss keeps giving you random assignments at work which makes you close late or interferes with your schedule, you would definitely be upset. If you see your teen watching TV on Saturday morning and you suddenly ask, "Can you please clean the [...]