Children and Chores

Children and Chores

   I became a little overwhelmed yesterday by the "stuff" that easily accumulates in the house. My sink lasts about 5 minutes clean before it gets filled by the dirty-dish fairy. Laundry is never ending and no matter how many times I clean the table it always ends up with "stuff". So I decided to be more strict on what chores I'm going to start giving my little ones. I don't expect them to clean the restroom or mop, but teaching them how to help is a good start.

  I left a big pile of their clothes in the couch before leaving to work. I explained what clothes needed to be hanged and what could be folded. I left enough hangers and advise them it had to be done by the time mommy got home. Obviously I didn't expect it to be perfect, but I wanted to see effort and responsibility. I got home and inspected their room. Yes! everything was nicely folded and hanged. My 7 and 4 year old daughters managed to help me!

 I think it is very important to have children participate in household chores. As parents we have to teach our kids to be responsible and organized. It could get overwhelming at times, and I know its just better if we hurry and do it ourselves, but we need to be patient and guide our children. At school children are expected to clean after themselves and be responsible for their  belongings, it should be no different at home.

 B.F.Skinner discovered Operant Conditioning, which means how we can change behavior by using reinforcement. In his research he applied the term  positive reinforcements (McLeod, S. A, 2007).
Applying this term to children, a reinforcement is a consequence that will determine if the behavior will occur again. In other words, if we give a child a positive reinforcement for a behavior, they will most likely do it again. Now, it doesn't mean to take your child to toysrus every time they clean their room or pick up their plate. It simply states that a simple "wow! what an excellent job you did!" will suffice for the child to get the message that he or she can be praised my their parents for doing as expected. I think positive reinforcement plays a huge role on the behavior we want from our children and if used correctly we can raise them to be obedient. When I saw all the clothes where they should be, I immediately told my daughters how proud and happy I was with them.






References:
McLeod, S. A. (2007). B.F. Skinner | Operant Conditioning - Simply Psychology. Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html