I’m trying to get my kids more excited about helping around the house. I’ve heard storytelling can be a good way to make chores more fun, but I’m not sure how to actually use it as positive reinforcement. Any ideas on how to incorporate stories to make cleaning up or other tasks more enjoyable for them? What’s worked for other parents?
We started using a storytelling approach for chores recently. My kid loves pretending the vacuum is a hungry monster that eats dust bunnies. For putting away laundry, we imagine the clothes are tired after playing all day and need to go to their beds in the drawers.
It’s not foolproof, but it does make tidying up more fun most days. I find keeping the stories short and simple works best. My child often jumps in with their own ideas too, which is pretty entertaining.
We made up short stories about toys going on adventures while cleaning. My kids liked it.
For bigger jobs, we pretended to be explorers clearing paths through a jungle. Quick, simple games kept them engaged without overdoing it.
I’ve been trying to make chores more fun for my 5-year-old too. Recently, I started telling little stories about each toy as we put them away. Like how the toy cars were tired after a long day of racing and needed to park in their garage to rest.
It’s been working some days, but other times my kid just isn’t in the mood. I’m curious how others keep the storytelling fresh? Do you have a go-to set of stories, or do you make them up on the spot?
Also, I’d love to hear if anyone has used storytelling for bigger chores like cleaning a whole room. That feels trickier to me. Any tips on how to stretch out a story to cover a longer task?
In our house, we’ve had some success with turning chores into little stories or games. For cleaning up toys, we pretend they’re going on a trip and need to pack their suitcases (the toy bins). The kids get pretty into it!
Another thing that’s worked well is having a chart where they can add stickers for completed tasks. At the end of the week, we sit down and look at all they’ve done. It’s neat to see how proud they are.
We also try to make it a team effort. Everyone pitches in together, and we chat or sing while we work. It’s not always perfect, but it usually goes smoother than when I just tell them what to do.
Overall, keeping things light and fun seems to help a lot. The kids are more willing to pitch in when it doesn’t feel like a chore.
When my kids were younger, I stumbled onto using stories to make chores more fun. I’d tell them tales about a magical house where everything had a special place. As they put toys away, we’d imagine the toys having adventures on their journey back to their homes. It got them giggling and moving.
For bigger tasks like cleaning their rooms, we’d create ongoing stories about secret agents on a mission to tidy up. Each completed chore was a step closer to saving the world from the evil mess monster. 
Sometimes, I’d let them be the storytellers. They’d make up wild reasons why we needed to do laundry or wash dishes. It was pretty entertaining to hear their creative excuses for why socks absolutely had to be paired up right away.
It didn’t always work, but it definitely made chore time less of a battle. Plus, it gave us some fun memories to laugh about later.