I’m struggling to get my kids to help out around the house without it turning into a battle every time. They’re 7 and 10 and honestly just complain or drag their feet whenever I ask them to do basic stuff like clean their rooms or help with dishes.
I’ve tried reward charts but they seem to lose interest pretty quickly. Looking for some practical ideas that actually work to make household chores less of a chore, if that makes sense. What has worked for your family?
I just started getting my child involved in chores through pretend play. Recently we pretended to be robots cleaning a spaceship, and she organized her toy bin without any fuss. We also made washing dishes like sorting treasure. However, I find it challenging to maintain that motivation as she quickly loses interest. Has anyone else experienced this? How do you keep it fresh and engaging?
We switched tactics whenever something stopped working. My 14-year-old earned points for stuff she wanted - art supplies, sleepovers with friends. Worked great for a few weeks, then we’d move on to whatever clicked next.
Letting them pick background music or podcasts during chores was a big boost. My son would throw on gaming videos while cleaning his room and suddenly didn’t mind it.
With your age gap, different things will motivate each kid. My younger one loved having her own special job - she was the “laundry detective” hunting down missing socks. The older one cared more about earning privileges than prizes. 
Don’t stress about changing methods when they stop working. Kids change and their motivation changes too. Sometimes we’d circle back to old tactics after a break and they’d work again.
Music changed everything for us! We blast upbeat songs during cleanup and now my kids dance while they work. My youngest actually begs to vacuum because she loves the music.
We do “beat the clock” challenges too - they race to finish before the timer hits zero. Just 10 minutes to clean their rooms and they’re high-fiving when they beat it.
Letting them pick their chores helps a ton. My older kid hates dishes but loves organizing, so we roll with it. Giving them choice makes them feel like they have some control.
Been there! We went through phases where nothing worked. At one point, I gave all our cleaning supplies funny voices - even the vacuum had its own character. That got old fast, so we switched to a points system for extra screen time. What really worked was giving my kid his own spray bottle with water. Made him feel grown-up and important, which turned chores into something he actually wanted to do.
We do chores together now instead of making them go off alone. Goes way faster and they actually chat with me while we’re folding laundry or wiping counters. Way less pushback when everyone’s pitching in.