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girl doing chores: emptying dishwasher
Raise Responsible Kids

#40: Being OK with the way our kids help out around the house

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Do you often say: ‘Oh, I’ll just do it myself, it’s easier’ or ‘It’ll get done properly if I do it’ when it comes to maintaining your home?

You’re not alone.

Let’s face it, the way they do things isn’t the same way we do them nor the way we taught them how to do it.  It can cause frustrations sometimes and the temptation to just redo the whole thing ourselves (waste of time, by the way) or just do it ourselves from the get-go.

Resist.

In this episode you’ll learn the strategies I use to get passed through those thoughts and feelings so tune in.  Hope you enjoy this episode my friend!

Lead together, Raise Responsible Kids

34: Why’s It So Hard For My Kid To Do Chores

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Where the topic of chores and kids came from

So the question I’d be answering today is, why is it so hard to get my kid to do chores? Now, this podcast episode was inspired by a question that was asked at a local radio station here in Montreal. 

It’s called the Beat 92.5. I decided to call in and answer it because one, I’m a mom and two because I’m a professional organizer and I believe wholeheartedly in chores, in kids helping out and doing chores at home. If you’ve listened to my podcast episodes before, I do mention it, nine Ways to Get Kids to Help Out With Chores. So if you want to pause this episode and take a listen to that one, just head to diannejimenez.com/ 31 Alright, so let’s ask the question, why is it so hard to get my kid to do chores? 

Why’s it so hard for my kid to do chores: #1 Do they understand it (chores)?

Well, first off, and I’m gonna split this into three sections.

First off, do they understand why this needs to get done? And the reason is this: a lot of times as adults, we get motivated because there’s the why behind it. We’re more inclined to do things when we know the reason. If there’s no reason at all, where our hearts and minds are not really there to do it, then we might do it once or twice.  But the next time after that, if we’re asked to do it, it’s like, ‘well, I don’t really feel like doing it’.
So if we have that in mind, can you imagine what it is for the kids? What’s going on in their minds? You know, so they’re still developing and those, I guess, I don’t know, the science behind it is the reason. There might be a reason why with your brain or something that we don’t get motivated to do things unless there’s a concrete reason why.

Now, for us as adults, obviously, you know, the house needs to be maintained. We don’t wanna be breathing all this dust, we don’t wanna be walking on Legos and hurting our feet or you know, inviting all types of rodents or bugs into the house, even though bugs do crawl in our house all the time. But just the thought of crumbs, a mess and food all over the place, it’s just not healthy and it’s not good, obviously.

Lead together, Raise Responsible Kids

#31: 9 Ways To Get Your Kids To Help With Chores

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This episode provides key tips and information on how to get kids to help with chores while instilling useful life skills. It discusses how to make it engaging by setting up a chore chart, dividing tasks, offering incentives, and breaking down complex tasks into manageable pieces. It also highlights the importance of setting a good example, being consistent and patient with teaching kids, and acknowledging their efforts. Plus get an eye-opening example straight from a client’s own experience.
If you’re struggling with getting kids to help out at home, this episode is for you.

Home organizing, Raise Responsible Kids

#26: Teaching kids about Getting the house ready for guests 

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Teaching Kids About Prepping The House For Guests

In today’s episode I’m talking about getting the house ready for when guests come over. Now,  I know YOU know how to do this already… I’m talking about Teaching Kids  this skill.

If you have school-aged kids who are asking for their friends to come over, but you also want to step it up a notch, then this episode could be the one that arms you with a new direction, another perspective or even just inspires you to test some chores out with your kids.

In this episode you’ll learn:
– When’s the perfect time to bring the chore conversation up, aka ‘How do I get my kids motivated to do chores?’

– The steps I take when teaching my kids how to get the house ready before their friends arrive, where we touch on boundaries and ownership.

– Then we’ll touch on the differences between cleaning, organizing and tidying up and finally, 

– Which spaces to target when there’s little time to prep

Home organizing

#25: 17 Habits To Making Life Easier

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“…going from a cluttered home and feeling overwhelmed to being organized where the house is easy to maintain by everyone –  IS a journey…”

1) They’re inexpensive. 2) They come in a variety of sizes and functions. Like you can hang stuff that’s pretty light to really heavy things. They can also be stuff you put on a regular wall or in your shower stall! 3) You can get them anywhere from the dollar store to even the big box stores. And 4) and this is why they’re so awesome: if you don’t like the spot you initially put them in, you can always remove it without damaging your wall behind and put it someplace else.  They’re easy to remove regardless of how long that hook’s been there. 5 minutes or over 5 years. It won’t damage your wall so long as you follow the instructions on how to remove them!

[…]

When you walk in our bedroom, you’ll see the side of my husband’s tall dresser right away, and my long dresser is along the door on your right.  You won’t see this when you walk in but at the far end of these 2 pieces of furniture, are command hooks placed either on the wall or on the dresser itself.  

So often you won’t see clothes on our bed, the chair or dressers because they’re hanging in a hidden spot strategically placed at the height of the dresser so you don’t see them when you walk into our room.  It cuts the visual clutter that can often happen when your clothes are all over the place.

shows a child who organized crayons by color
Home organizing, Raise Responsible Kids

#24: Organizing School Supplies With Kids – An Easy Step By Step Plan

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This episode is like a mini training where I’m going to help guide you, step by step, into organizing school supplies, so that everything’s ready for the next school year. But here’s the thing, if you’ve been the one taking care of all the school supplies in the past, slowly organizing things over the summer, or nipping it in the bud at the start of summer, no no, not anymore. If you know me by now, follow me on social media and listen to a few episodes, you know I’m all about getting the kids involved when it comes to organizing our homes and lives.

So let’s go!

First off, if you’re wondering “Why do this now?” Let me paint a picture for you:

Say, we take the same scenario I just mentioned a minute ago where the school books and supplies are either still in your kids’ school bags somewhere in the house or scattered here and there in different piles. It’s clutter that’s not only taking up physical space but mental real estate too because, you know it needs to be dealt with. The thing is, it just keeps getting pushed to the bottom of your ever growing ‘to-do’ list and then sits in your mind all summer long.

And imagine it being close to another school year and you’re overwhelmed and scratching your head at all the extra supplies you need to get when you could have sworn you got new school supplies last year. So where is everything?

Or, it’s crunch time now and with the summer ending, fall activities to register for and plan your schedule around , along with doctors and dentist appointments to book….now you have to deal with organizing school supplies so they start the year off right: with everything they need. But time, as always, is running out!

I know there are so many more situations and scenarios similar to these in many households, but what do they all have in common? They all end up leaving parents frustrated, annoyed, not wanting to deal with it and then mentally depleted. ….. And the school year hasn’t even begun yet!

How can we avoid all those unnecessary feelings?

Nip it in the bud now.Today or give yourself a week to finish this simple and easy task and don’t do it alone. I know it could go a lot faster if it’s just you and it’s SOOO tempting to take it all and get it done and over with. I HEAR you! I’ve done this myself over the years. But now, I do things differently: I take every moment I could as a teaching moment . More importantly though, you’re here right now – following this podcast show – because deep down, you also don’t want things to always fall on you, right?

I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it over and over again: Life stuff, household stuff, organizing it, maintaining it all and everything in between – doesn’t always have to fall all on you. It’s not why you’re here in this world. As parents, we are their first teachers so, teach what you know how to do. Your future self and your kids will thank you for it – I promise!

Now, could you imagine taking care of this task, EARLY in the summer: how much more good energy will be created from within you because you just ticked off another item off of your to-do list? And even MORE good feelings because you’re teaching and involving the kids to take care of their things! All the more reason to get started now with organizing school supplies!

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