19 Chores For Kids + Why Your Children Should Help Around The Home

Getting young ones to help around the house is, in many cases, easier said than done: Getting kids to do chores can be, well, a chore. But there are real reasons your children need to be tending to home matters. Here, we spoke to a few experts to understand more.

"It's a really important thing: Research has found that kids who have chores build critical life skills. The point is that they learn how to become contributing members of their household, manage daily self-sufficient life skills that you need as an adult," says author and child care expert Caroline Maguire, M.Ed. "I believe in that kind of citizenship: You are a member of this family unit, and we all help each other out. I am not asking you to do something that I wouldn't do myself. When people grow up and become part of a relationship—be it partner or roommate—you think of others. You don't always just take care of yourself. Chores teach that." 

And the thing is: Encouraging kids to take part in your family and community may make them happier in the long run, too. "We think that happiness comes about because you get things for yourself," according to Richard Ryan, Ph.D., a psychologist at the University of Rochester, says in this article about raising joyful kids. But "it turns out that...giving gets you more." 

Here are a handful of ideas that you can assign your children. "You can make anything a game: Make it race; dance while you're doing it," says Maguire. "It teaches you how to fit in the mundane stuff."  

"Anything that might cause harm or can be dangerous is obviously off-limits," she says. "Don't ask kids to do things that are out of their depth." Again, this may be different for all families, but if it gives you pause, that may be an indication that your kid shouldn't be doing it.

Chores teach kids to be not passengers in life but active participants. Encourage them to get involved, be part of the family, and take care of themselves.