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Holiday Boredom Busters Ideas – Responsibility
By Chan Hoi Ki on 02/06/2022
As you read the above blog post title – how does the idea of responsibility sounds fun and cures boredom for kids? In fact, having your children spend more time at home during the school holidays means there are more opportunities to teach them the value of responsibility, albeit through various, small but meaningful efforts!
Set age-appropriate tasks / chores
Again as you read the above, how can you make chores fun?
One way is to set a checklist for them listed with age-appropriate tasks, and once they are completed, you can tick them off with a cute chop or sticker. Best still, give your kids access to the sticker / chop pile and have them set it as ‘completed’ themselves once you’ve verified the job has been done. Display this checklist visibly and let your kids be proud of their achievements and efforts.
The same method can be applied to generating good habits. You can make a list of tasks as part of cultivating good habits eg. brushing teeth, making their beds.
Some examples of household chores suitable for kids above 4+:
- Wiping down surfaces
- Emptying bins
- Sweep floors
- Sorting laundry eg. matching socks
- Water plants
Begin the chores by helping your child with it, provide hands-on support even if you have to do it several times before he/she learns to do it by themselves. Remember to provide positive reinforcement to your child despite the fact that it will probably be done easier by yourself. With sufficient guidance and confidence, your child will eventually complete these chores by themselves!
You can also encourage your child to pick up these chores by creating miniature or special cleaning kits similar to yours! After all, having a pretty dish rag or a colourful basket may allow your kid to feel grateful for these items and want to use them even more!
Money management & allowances
Let your child learn that during school holiday breaks, this can also be a golden opportunity to learn how to make some money!
You can start off by listing out some extra household chores that you may not expect your child to pick up at their age. These tasks can set out to be a little more difficult but it can greatly reward your child in terms of self-esteem & satisfaction. Again, do provide hands-on support and sufficient guidance to your child before letting them perform with supervision.
Examples of extra household chores:
- Taking the trash out of the house
- Washing their shower/tub
- Weed & rake leaves in your backyard
- Washing the family car
You can reward them within a suitable range of 50 cents to $1 depending on the difficulty of the task. Why do we want our children to start having their own money? This is a great way for them to pick up crucial life skills like saving, budgeting, giving and the value of money in the real world.
With their hard-earned savings, you can suggest to them some ways they can spend:
- Bringing them to a candy store and pick out their own candy
- Donating to charity
- Picking out their own toys
- Gifting
Taking care of a household plant
It is like having a family pet, house plants are also living beings that also require food, water, love and attention. House plants are getting more popular these days – with an increasing number of options of easy-to-care for plants that require minimal attention to begin with. House plants also filter the air and add a touch of nature in our own living spaces.
First, you will need to learn the plant’s care requirements before imparting the knowledge to your child. Both you and your child will need to demonstrate responsibility and accountability to tend to the plant’s survival needs. This can be watering the plant weekly, fertilising it seasonally or placing it in direct/indirect sunlight. Depending on the age of your child, you can also impart some scientific knowledge like photosynthesis and propagation.
You can bring your child to your local plant nursery and have them pick out what grabs their attention. Who knows – this green thumb nature may develop from caring for their first plant within their bedroom to tending to a veggie patch in your backyard and even putting produce on the family dinner table!
Easy hardy plants include money plants (pothos), philodendrons and snake plants. Edible veggies can include kang kong, baby bak choy and basil.
Featured image source: yaoinlove/Freepik
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