Chores: Willingly or Grudgingly?

"Be willing to help in the home with chores that need to be done." For the Strength of Youth, p. 10

Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of ...work. The Family: A Proclamation to the World

"Children need to work with their parents, to wash dishes with them, to mop floors with them, to mow lawns, to prune trees and shrubbery, to paint and fix up, to clean up, and to do a hundred other things in which they will learn that labor is the price of cleanliness, progress, and prosperity." Gordon B. Hinckley, "Four Simple Things to Help Our Families and Our Nations", Liahona, June 1996, p. 3.

As parents, we know that our children, especially teens should help in the home; however, convincing the teenage son or daughter that they should help willingly and happily is the challenge.

So how do we create an atmosphere of willingness with our teens, especially with family chores? I asked families in my real neighborhood for their ideas.

• Write down the chores to be done on Saturday, place them in a jar and have everyone draw one out. Keep drawing until all the chores are finished, then go for ice cream.

• When I offered to take a meal to a family this week, the mother said that it wasn't necessary because she doesn't cook during the week, her kids do. Each teen is assigned a day to cook dinner.

• In another family, each child is responsible to do their own laundry. In my home, I still do the laundry, but my 5 year-old loves to help with that chore.

• In order to provide opportunities for their kids to earn money, another family puts "extra" chores on file cards with a corresponding money amount that the children may earn for bikes, dolls, etc.

• Instead of a Saturday full of chores, one family opts to have an evening chore each day of the week. Chores rotate each week between children.

• Two families include some "non-traditional" chores on their To-Do lists including car and home maintenance.

• One mom hides money under picture frames, vases, and other decorative items to ensure that dusting happens under items, not just around them.

• Another mom lists the top 7 or 8 chores she wants to complete on Saturday. Then the mom asks her daughter which 3 she would be willing to do in order to have the time do something together in the afternoon.

• Another family is convinced that to get the chores done, have fun and grow together, families must work together-all together. They clean the bathrooms, weed the garden, wash the cars and mop the floors together. It can be chaotic--even messy--but no one is left to work alone.

• One family turns up the tunes--fun ones with a beat--and dances their way through the Saturday chores.

Mary Poppins had the right idea. "A teaspoon of sugar makes the medicine go down in the most delightful way!" I believe that the only thing that really changes with time is the size of the body. Most of us are really 5 year-olds in much bigger bodies, and we still want to have fun.

So let's have some blogging fun, too. I'm asking you--my virtual neighborhood--for your ideas and suggestions. Please post a comment with your ideas of how you make chores fun for you and your teens. Blog Tag--you're it!