How to Get Kids to Help at Home

Do you struggle to get your children to clean their rooms and help with family chores? If both you and your children are frustrated after these battles, read this book and apply the principles described by this author. As a marriage family therapist and former school teacher, Anson offers both concrete education and insightful personal tips to improve communications and relationships between parents and their children. "Understanding your Teen" was especially useful to me. This is a MUST READ for parents with teens. Everything changes as teens struggle to define their independence. This step is critical for rearing a capable, responsible adult-but how can parents respond in a healthy way? If you care about your children and the world we leave them, read this book and rear responsible, respectful, loving children.

Anson provides both a philosophical framework and practical suggestions for enlisting your kids as partners and sharing the responsibility for every-day chores, as well as teaching them larger life lessons and living skills. Very easy to read and with helpful ideas for specific kinds of problems such as organization and keeping the bedroom clean. Definitely recommend.

Elva Anson really strikes a chord in building family harmony when all adults and children participate in caring for the home and edify one another. HOW TO GET KIDS TO HELP A HOME is on the top of my gift-giving list to families with preschoolers who will get the full advantage of growing with the program presented for delegating household chores by age and ability. However, even parents of older children can benefit from the strategies presented in this quick read. I totally agree with the author "Home is the classroom for learning basic life skills. If you are a parent, you are a teacher."

When you finish reading this book, your own home will be super organized and set up to run efficiently, family members will be cheerfully interacting with each other, mutual respect and love for each other will color all your days, and helping is never an issue. Anson knows and respects the uniqueness of every child and shows you how to work with that uniqueness to inspire the confidence each child needs to succeed in life. She provides age-related charts of what to expect, concrete directions on how to train and encourage, all the while maintaining the all-important respect for opinions and contributions. For instance, instead of just saying "clean your room," tell them what that means and exactly how to clean, step by step. No open-ended directives but understandable perimeters. Organize closets so things can be put away easily. Be a role model: kids do as you do not as you say. If your room's a mess, their's will be too. This book is chock full of everything you need to know, with easy to follow instructions with minute details that will encourage you to help out at home yourself. Children love to please and your job is to encourage that. Thank you, Elva Anson, for this valuable contribution to our culture. If people complain about how kids are these days, it can only be because they haven't utilized the knowledge presented here.

Rebeccasreads highly recommends HOW TO GET KIDS TO HELP AT HOME for all mothers & fathers who whine that they can't get their children to participate in running the home. "Do things for your children, & they will get along today. Teach them to do things for themselves, & they will get along for the rest of their lives." (P.16) HOW TO GET KIDS TO HELP AT HOME is for beginners -- parents & kids alike. By the time your chickadees are teenagers, the dye has been set & you'll have to live with the consequences. However, if you can catch your kids at the beginning of your lives together & practice Elva Anson's lessons, many of which are given in this book in the form of games & "credit cards", you'll all have a chance, & much fun along the way!