It cannot be easy to be a good parent and still make your family dinner, do the dishes, keep their rooms tidy, or do whatever else you need to get done before bedtime. It’s not always possible to magically swap out chores with home time without sacrificing either. If you have kids in school, it will most likely be necessary to have a smaller household and be a different parent.
How To Balance Family Time and Household Duties?
Here are some things families can do to keep family time and chores balanced:
1. Eat dinner together:
No matter how tired everyone is, it’s a good idea to sit down to dinner together and ensure everyone has time to eat. It is a great time to provide nightly feedback. It helps create a good family culture that’s not overly focused on work or busyness. It can also teach your children the important lesson that their time is valuable and the importance of being present with people without distractions like TV or cell phones.
2. Date nights:
We all know the importance of date nights in a relationship. Make time to do something you love, with family or without them. Even if it’s just an hour or two out of the weekend, it can be good for you to get a break. There’s no need to go a full day without seeing each other. Leave a day or two on either side of your weekly, predictable time together.
3. Children can do chores:
Children should be encouraged to contribute to the household and ensure they are not taking advantage of the situation. It’s a good idea to establish dirty chores and clean chores. Clean chores are things like making the bed or folding laundry, while dirty chores consist of cleaning up after themselves — which is something that all children should learn early on in life. Parents might want to remember this when they want their children to play outside so they can do something they need to be done. It’s good to instill these responsibilities early, so nothing is too late to teach the kids.
4. Teach Right from Wrong:
It’s important to teach children and teens about right and bad habits and ways of behaving, such as holding the door for others or picking up their toys after playing with them. Making it clear that disobedience doesn’t pay off. It can be hard for parents when they have naturally unruly children, but setting limits is key in teaching children respect and responsibility.
5. Give children age-appropriate chores:
It’s important to remember to give children appropriate chores for their age. For example, a four-year-old child can be responsible for straightening their toys, while a six-year-old child can put their dirty laundry in the basket and put clean laundry away, but it’s not likely they can fold the clean laundry. It’s important to be realistic with how much you can handle for the kids, especially regarding chores. But it’s also important for parents to know their limits and use common sense in their actions.
6. Read books:
Reading to your children or getting them to read is a great way to bond as a family. It can be fun for everyone, and reading before bedtime is a good way to wind down and teach important skills like vocabulary or how to tell stories. Many families also find that reading to their children before bed helps them sleep faster, so it’s a win-win situation.
7. Family dinners:
Family dinners are a great opportunity for parents to get valuable feedback about their children and how they interact with others during the day. That can be a very peaceful time and an opportunity to build on relationships with your child and communicate your love for them by giving them helpful tips on how they can improve themselves throughout the day.
8. One-on-one conversations:
It is a great way to build better communication between your child and you. It happens when you stop working so hard to try and provide the answers for them all the time, especially when they are younger. It’s important to focus on listening to them instead of trying to come up with their answers for them, and it can provide time for letdown or frustration that can occur after a long day of school or even just a bad group project in class.
Conclusion:
Not all of these household rules can be followed by every family, and that’s perfectly fine. Everyone has their style, but you should always remember to make your family as happy as possible. If you need to do more cleaning or errands, it’s a good idea for the family to give back some of your time. No one is saying that the house needs to be cleaned every day — just a simple daily clean-up will go a long way and teach your children how to maintain their space.
