5 Best Chore List Ideas for Single Parents

In addition to having your children take care of their clothes and personal belongings, you can greatly simplify your life by having them help with daily and weekly chores around the house.

Have your kids share the workload from the time they are very young.  

Give them more responsibility as they get older and are able to do more, but don't expect perfection right away.

Show them how you want things done and praise their early efforts.  Remember that it’s going to take them for time to learn how to do things right.  A gentle suggestion is more helpful to them than impatient criticism. 

Here are the 5 chore list ideas: 

1. Chores are an investment. 

Children who perform chairs chores have an investment in the family home.  

Unlike guests who enjoy the comforts of a home but are not part of what makes it function, children who do chores are personally attached to their home.

2. Chores foster skill development. 

Parents can gradually increase the complexity and number of chores their children are accountable for. As children master an array of tasks, they learn many new skills that help them in other areas of their lives. 

When parents take the time to teach their children how to do different jobs, the children learn how to learn.  They find out they can successfully take on new and different tasks.

3. Chores foster a sense of accomplishment. 

Children enjoy a wonderful feeling of accomplishment when they look back at a job well done.  When children know that their contribution of time and energy has tangible results, they’re motivated to do more.  Smart parents give their children jobs that have visible results and then comment positively on those results.

4. Chores give a feeling of pride. 

Lots of encouragement and praise is important.  Children may take a long time to complete a new job, and you may find the results lest than gratifying.  However, given time, practice, and encouragement, they will keep adding skills to their growing list of abilities.  When parents point out their successes, they feel proud and big.

5. Chores teach that everyone is expected to contribute to the family's well-being. 

Paying children to do chores puts an entirely different slant on the issue.  Payment tends to create the illusion that if children don’t want the money, they aren’t obligated to do the chores.  Family chores should be seen as a child’s contribution to family life, not as an option.

The rewards of being an important part of the family are much more valuable than a few dollars of allowance. 

Contributing to the smooth running of the family gives children self-esteem, confidence, independence, pride, accomplishment, and mastery of important life skills.


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7 Signs of Bad Teaching and What You Can Do About It

    

You are your child's first teacher. This is not only true, but you as the parent remain responsible for 
your child's education throughout his or her total school experience.

Parental attitude have greater correlation with pupil achievement than material home circumstances or variations in school and classroom organization, instructional materials, and particular teaching practices.

Your attitude must be that  you want and deserve teachers who are competent and effective for your child.

A bad teacher can destroy your child's self-confidence, devastate his desire to learn, dampen his achievements, and leave emotional scars. You can't afford to allow your child to be subjected to incompetent teachers. You must keep tuned in to detect bad teaching.

Here are seven signs of bad teaching to be aware of:

1. The teacher has low expectations for your child.
2. The teacher can't communicate knowledge in an interesting way.
3. The teacher is not aware of your child's strength's, weaknesses, and interests.
4. The teacher gives disorganized lessons and vague, careless assignments
5. The teacher shows little enthusiasm in his or her work.
6. The teacher does not assign homework on a regular basis.
7. The teacher belittles your child's efforts.

Moreover bad teaching should not be the norm in your child's school. You have every right to understand what's happening to your child and teachers have the responsibility to share that information without prejudicial judgment. 

8 Ways to Encourage Your Child's Independence

Children crawl before they walk; walk before they run. One is generally is a precondition for the other. And with each step they take towards more independence, more mastery of the environment, you, the parent take a step away -- each a small separation, a small distancing.

In healthy families, children at an early age, discover through being listened to that what they have to say is important, that their experiences and ideas, and they themselves have worth. 

They are encouraged to think for themselves, express opinions, and make decisions for themselves. Their parents support to stand on their own two feet and do what they think is right. Trusting and gaining confidence in themselves, they develop an inner locus of control.

It's a fine line between wanting your child to head off into the big wide world before they're ready and molly-coddling them.

Here then are 8 ways to encourage your child's independence and foster their self-reliance:

1. Show enthusiasm when your child tries to help, even if it'll take longer. Praise the effort and recognize any task he accomplishes.

2. Help your child make decisions by offering a small choice such as which story to read or what shirt to wear.

3. Give him little responsibilities and gradually increase them based on his capabilities but always within reason, such as putting his clothes in the hamper, putting his toys away, or helping you to get the dinner ready.

4. Praise his ability. This is necessary for a child to believe he's capable of doing things, and that it was his own skill that led to success, rather than luck. For instance, tell him how clever he is for throwing the ball into the hoop, rather than that was lucky.

5. Tempting as it is to say, “I’ll do it,” say ”Let me show you how” instead. That way, your child is learning new skills and not just relying on you to do everything for him.

6. Point out why things are dangerous or unacceptable without belittling the motivation to do things on his own. For example, Having your child use a sharp knife to help with dinner is never a good idea even though your child has seen you use one, showing him how to use a butter knife would be more appropriate.

7. Avoid using the word “no” unless something is dangerous or clearly wrong.

8. Respect a child's feelings and fears. Even if it seems silly to you, ask him why he's afraid and then take time to talk about it.


How much emphasis do you put on encouraging independence in your children?

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