Free Printable Chore Charts

Help your children to become responsible members of your family with these free printable chore charts.

The home can be a very unhappy place when children won’t do their chores. A vicious cycle can begin which ends in a yelling mom and very unhappy children. Many moms want to have their children work well and quickly…let me take you through some steps to help you when children won’t do their chores.

There are a few categories for this type of behavior:

  • Dawdling over chores
  • Not staying focused
  • Blatant disobedience
  • Age related issues

For children who won’t do their chores as they dawdle over them or loose their focus, there is nothing better than a mom who is willing to work alongside her child and train them in the habit of attention. At the same time she is able to train her children in the habit of perfect execution.

My strategy for my dawdling child is to make sure I have set aside additional time in my own chore time so that I can come alongside this child and do the work with them. When I notice a child’s attention is drifting I will call their focus back to the job at hand.

It is very important to do this as you are near to the child and not yell at them from the kitchen or another room in the home. The difference is one of a commander or one of a mentor.

For a child who battles to focus, they will probably have this character trait with many other areas. Perhaps it shows up in their schoolwork, activities and relationships. Using the same mentorship as described above you can come alongside your child and gently draw their attention to the job at hand.

For a child who loses focus and thus won’t do their chores, it works very well to have a limited amount for them to do well rather than a whole host of chores that they will get confused over. It is also helpful for this child to have a printed list, even pictorial, that they can tick off until they have learnt the habit of attention.

For children who won’t do their chores due to blatant disobedience you need to take a different tack. It starts with you assessing your parenting style as well as what you are expecting your children to do.

Here are some thoughts to consider :

  • Am I encouraging my children in their chores?
  • Am I training my children in how to do their chores properly or just yelling out instructions?
  • Do I have the correct expectations by age?

If you feel that you are OK in the above points then you need to deal with your disobedient child firmly and consistently as you would in any other situation when your child is blatantly disobedient.

Lastly, when your children won’t do their chores for any of these reasons perhaps you need to assess whether the chores you are setting for them are age related and that you are not expecting too much from your children.

It is also very important to remember that while you want the work done, your relationship with your children is more important. Remember too as you train your children to do their chores with perfect execution, that you are training them for a lifetime.

Are you needing some help implementing a child chore program in your home? Do you need a bit of encouragement to pursue when the motivation is low in you, and your children? Sometimes moms need a little help to see how it is done in other homes or they need chore ideas to give to their children so that they learn to work as part of the family team.

This e-book – Steps to Successful Kids Chores will help you do just that.

Included in this e-booklet you will find:

1. How to organize your children’s rooms including how to perform a 3 day blitz!
2. How to deal with unsavoury attitudes over chores
3. Age by age chore suggestions & help
4. Zoning your child’s room
5. Dealing with chore allowances
6. Motivation for training your children to do their chores
7. How to set up your chore pocket system
8. Chore cards for children from preschool to young teen (Separate File)

It is primarily a total system to help you get your chore systems in place but also includes a fun chore pocket system. While the book will help moms with children of all ages the pocket system is primarily for use with younger children in the age range of preschool – 10 years of age.

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