Many parents choose to ask their children to help with their household, and believe there are several key benefits to giving kids chores. It enables young people to develop practical, real-life skills that they'll need as adults when looking after their own home. Aside from learning how to work a vacuum cleaner or lay the table, children also learn about being part of a team and the sense of pride for a job well done. A great way to keep kids motivated to do their chores is with rewards. Rewarding kids for doing chores shows them that you appreciate the effort they've made and gives them an incentive to do their best.
Related: Age-appropriate chores for kids
Do rewards for chores matter?
We all feel more inclined to do something if we are going to get a reward at the end of it. Rewards help motivate and provide positive reinforcement for good behaviour. They also acknowledge a job well done. While parental attention and praise are generally the most effective ways to reward a child, tangible rewards such as a treat or an activity also have value. Incentivising kids to do chores will make them feel more willing to get on with the job and do it carefully. A common misconception is that rewarding your kids for chores is essentially bribing them – but bribes are spontaneous, and rewards are planned. When you have reward systems in place for kids, they already know what you expect of them and what they will get in return.
Not all chores and rewards are equal
For some families, there might be certain tasks that they expect their children to do without a reward. While it will depend on the child's age and abilities, examples of these tasks may include making the bed, hanging up their coats, and putting their shoes away. These tasks will be specific to each family. However, while there might be certain chores that you don't necessarily want to pay your kids for, there are plenty of other tasks that kids can do in return for a reward.
How to reward kids for doing chores
If you work together with your children to create a reward system, they'll understand what they will get in return for completing tasks. They'll also understand that they won't necessarily get a reward for every single chore. There are many different types of reward systems for kids. You just need to find something that works best for your family.
Here are twenty imaginative reward ideas for kids:
- Praise for a job well done: Praising your kid's effort (not their achievement) costs nothing but can mean everything to them.
- New phone app: Treat your kids to a new app of their choice (within reason) on their smartphone.
- Board games afternoon: Getting all their jobs done properly and on time can earn them an afternoon of playing their favourite board games with the family.
- Extra screen time: They can spend longer watching TV or playing their favourite video game.
- Stay up later: Depending on their accomplishment, they could earn themselves a later bedtime.
- Restaurant treat: If they've done exceptionally well with their housework tasks, take them out for a bite to eat as a treat.
- Film of their choice: They can pick a film for the family to sit down and watch together.
- Pick a family activity: Let your kids choose an activity for all the family, which can be anything from going to the zoo, a kickabout in the garden or playing board games.
- Baking day: Spend the day baking up some tasty treats together.
- Role reversal: Let your child be in charge for a day and choose where you go, what you do, watch, and what you eat.
- A sleepover: If they deserve an extra special reward, let them have their best friends stay over for a sleepover
- A playdate: They can pick a friend to come over for a playdate.
- Visit a playpark: Reward them with a trip to their favourite playpark.
- Go to the cinema: They can pick a film to watch at the cinema.
- Watch a football match: Reward their hard work with tickets to watch their favourite football team.
- Go to the beach: Treat them to a trip to the beach.
- Have a picnic: Pack up some tasty treats and go somewhere special for a family picnic.
- Go to a museum: Reward them with a trip to a museum.
- Camp in the garden: If they love adventures, let them camp out in the garden.
- Money: Give them a financial reward to either save or spend on themselves.
Use GoHenry to reward your kids for doing chores
Giving your kids money for doing chores can motivate them to help around the house and reward them for their effort. But it can also help to teach them valuable money management skills too. When kids get money for doing their chores, it demonstrates the importance of work but how much to pay for chores is up to you. To earn money, they need to work hard for it. Not only that, with a GoHenry prepaid debit card, they also learn about saving money and responsible spending.
A GoHenry prepaid kids' debit card is a great choice for kids aged 6 to 18 and has considerable benefits for both parents and kids. It works just like a debit card, but unlike a traditional bank debit card, there's no overdraft facility, and kids can only spend what their parents allow them to. Some of the great features of GoHenry include:
- A personalised GoHenry prepaid debit card that kids can use to pay for goods in shops, online and to withdraw cash at cashpoints
- In-app experiences designed to motivate, guide and encourage kids. Plus, parents have a companion app, too
- In-app Money Missions featuring interactive games and quizzes to teach kids valuable money skills
- Parents can set spending limits and receive instant notifications about their child's spending
- Ability to set up automatic weekly or monthly money transfers or one-off payments
- Parents can choose where their kids' GoHenry prepaid debit card is used and block it whenever necessary
- Parents can set tasks to help kids earn money
- Kids can set saving goals to save part of their pocket money automatically
- Relatives and friends can transfer money to the card via Giftlinks
If you want to start financially rewarding your kids for doing chores, then a GoHenry prepaid debit card is the ideal solution. Signing up for a GoHenry prepaid debit card for your kids is easy. Just submit your parent details and order your kids' personalised GoHenry prepaid debit cards. Once they receive their cards in just a few days, you can activate their card using the app. It's then over to you to set up payments, spending rules and their chores.
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