7 Secrets that WILL have your kids happy and helping!

1. Turn on the tunes and have fun

Good music always helps to get kids energized and put a little hop in their step as they clean to the beat of their favorite tunes. Some good ones that my kids like are:

2. Break larger chores into smaller tasks

• "I'm Only Me When I'm With You" - Taylor Swift
• "What Makes You Beautiful" - One Direction
• "Good Feeling" - Flo Rida
• "Home" - Phillip Phillips
• "Happy" - Pharrell Williams

Older children that have been taught the smaller tasks of cleaning a living room or bathroom will know what is expected but younger ones will feel overwhelmed and not know where to begin.

Asking a young child to clean the living room can seem too overwhelming but if you break big chores into smaller tasks it is much easier for them to tackle.

So instead of clean the living room they could:

• pick up the living room (Pick Up 21 Things)
  • This card is part of each child's NEATLINGS self-care chore cards. Depending on how messy the room is you can give all children this same chore.
• Vacuum Room(s)
• Dust Room(s)
• Wash Windows
• Clean Glass Surfaces
• Vacuum Couch & Chair Cushions

Or instead of clean the bathroom

• Wash Bathroom Mirror(s)
• Clean Bathroom Sink(s) and Counter(s)
• Clean Shower/Tub
• Clean Toilet
• Fill hand-soap and change hand towels

Whether your children are beginning or advanced readers beautiful illustrations always help to motivate and engage an audience. Great illustrations and pictures make everything more engaging from websites, to books, to items on Pinterest or Facebook. Having good images is important and this goes for a great chore chart too.

Having great illustrations will help your beginning readers know what the chore is and help them feel successful from the start. It will give them the confidence to know what is expected of them as they can simply look at the chore chart and know what is needed.

3. Use engaging illustrations

Tip* You can even give each child a couple of the tasks so it is a group effort with everyone doing their specific job.

vs.

A chore chart picture is so much more welcoming then a line a text. A chore chart without clear pictures can be very stressful for beginning readers

​I can't tell you how often I've caught my own kids or neighboring kids just staring at our chore chart. The illustrations are so engaging that they draw children to want to look at it vs a chore chart that only has written tasks listed which can be stressful. 

4. Let kids have a say in what chores they want to do

Just like adults kids want to have some control over their daily lives. By letting them have a say in what chores interest them they feel empowered and will take ownership over their responsibilities and chores. Choosing what you want to do is way more motivating then simply being told what to do. So pick out a few chores that you would like your child to do and then let them select the ones that are most appealing to them. Now maybe there are some that you really need them to do. It’s OK to pick a couple out for them but let them help in selecting others that they prefer to do.

6. Be consistent and specific with your expectations

5. Reward them for their contributions

​Some chores may be just expected for kids to do particularly when it comes to self-care chores. But if you are having trouble getting your younger kids to take care of their self-care items consider giving extra incentive. You can do this by defining a chore as a responsibly that they need to complete but also identify it as one that you are willing to give tickets for while they work on making this part of their everyday routine. Rewarding kids with tickets that they can redeem for rewards is a great way to help motivate them.

Being consistent and specific with your expectations can be hard to do. That is why NEATLINGS Chore Cards are a fantastic way to manage this. Use NEATLINGS Erasable Pens to write on the cards so that everyone knows what it means to complete a chore.

​Here are some examples:

Make Bed: Add pull up covers and place pillow.

Clean Bathroom Sink(s) and Counter(s): Add and organize items on counter.

Vacuum Room(s): Add M/Th/Su - Family Areas. T/F - Bedrooms & Hallway.

7. Right tools for the job

8. Use a great chore chart like NEATLINGS

Nothing can defeat a child faster than being asked to do something that is simply too overwhelming. That is why it is important to have the right tools for the job.
​
​You wouldn't want to ask your 50 lb. first grader to use an adult sized vacuum to vacuum the stairs. Instead let them use a small hand held vacuum. Some other ideas are to use old socks on their hands for dusting, a kid size broom or hand broom for sweeping and a step stool for making things easier to reach. Also make sure you spend some time working with them and showing them how to do a job. Kids will feel empowered to get the job done with tools that work for them.

Finally one of the best things you can do is have a great chore chart. A great chore chart will be:

• self-policing:
• work cohesively for the whole family
• have a wide variety of chores
• be specific and consistent
• motivate and engage your kids
• versatile
• easy to use

NEATLINGS Chore Chart System in Dark Blue, Red and Yellow

NEATLINGS Chore Chart System in Purple, Pink and Light Blue

NEATLINGS Chore Chart System in Purple, Pink and Dark Blue

​NEATLINGS Chore Chart comes with 48 Household Chore Cards in teal and each child gets their individually colored deck of 28 Self-Care Chores with 21 coordinating ticket cards in values of 1's, 5's, and 10's for total value of 60 tickets..
Having the Self-Care Cards and Reward Tickets in their own color makes the system self-policing as one child can't simply "borrow" another child's reward tickets.
NEATLINGS Chore Charts come with Self-Care Decks in Dark Blue, Red, and Yellow or Purple, Pink, and Light Blue. Self-Care decks and Household Chore decks can also be purchased separately.
Have more great ideas on how to motivate kids? Leave a comment and let us know what you think. 

NEATLINGS is a versatile multiple child chore chart system that works for 1-3 children. However if you have more kids just connect 2 NEATLING Chore Charts. It can be arranged in several different ways. It will never get old or boring. Comes with 76 unique chores. Your kids will be happy and helping!