I’m having a tough time keeping my kids motivated when it comes to their daily chores. They usually start off strong, but after a week or so, their enthusiasm fades and I find myself constantly reminding them or taking care of the chores myself. Are there any effective strategies that have worked for other parents to encourage their kids to stick with their household tasks without it becoming a hassle?
We switch up rewards every few weeks to keep things interesting. Started with sticker charts, but once they got bored, we moved to earning points for weekend activities. My kids do way better when they pick their own chores from a list instead of getting assigned the same stuff daily. They feel like they actually own it. And honestly, I’ve stopped expecting perfection - if they knock out 3 of 4 tasks, that’s still a win. What really surprised me was how much they love our “chore playlist” during cleanup. Turns the whole thing from work into something we do together.
My kid used to sprint through chores for a week, then act like they didn’t exist. I started pairing them with things she already does - make the bed right after getting dressed, load dishes while breakfast cooks. She still needs reminders, but tying chores to her existing routine worked way better than any reward chart I tried. Timing matters too - mornings beat evenings when she’s wiped out.
What worked for us was just accepting that motivation goes up and down. My 14-year-old gets obsessed with organizing her room for two weeks, then completely forgets about it. Instead of fighting this, I built in breaks and switched things up.
We’ve got core chores that always happen - dishes, trash, feeding pets. These don’t change. Then there’s rotating weekly stuff that switches between the kids. Keeps them from getting bored while the important stuff gets done.
The game-changer was when I stopped doing their chores during lazy weeks. Painful watching dishes pile up, but they figured out pretty quick that ignoring work doesn’t make it vanish. Now when someone hits a lazy streak, I just wait instead of nagging nonstop.
Some weeks they’re chore champions, others they do bare minimum. Both are normal 
The goal isn’t perfect consistency - it’s building the habit over time.
Letting them experience the results of not doing chores worked for us. They figured it out pretty quickly when they ran out of clean socks or had to deal with their messy rooms.
My 5-year-old does the same thing - gets super excited about new chores then completely loses interest after a few days. I’m thinking maybe I should make it more routine instead of always using rewards. Does setting a specific time work better than letting them pick when to do it? Also, how long does it usually take before kids actually turn chores into a habit without you constantly reminding them?