This post was most recently updated on March 18th, 2020
Running a homestead is a lot of hard work and there are always endless chores to do. However, you don’t need to do them all on your own, especially if you have little ones running around in your home.
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Children of all ages can help out and do various homestead chores, however, it can be a task to get them to do their chores every day and on time.
You might find a chore chart like this one is helpful, we have ours hung in the living room!
Tips to get your Kids Involved in Homestead Chores
We will take a look at a couple of tips and guidelines that will help you to get your kids more involved on your homestead.
1. Think About Their Interests
You may have kids of different ages and interests and getting them to do specific chores might be a pain.
However, one solution to this problem is to choose chores that are in line with their interests. For example, if you have a kid that loves to cook and experiment in the kitchen, then one of their chores could include planting various herbs, vegetables and fruits and taking care of them.
A child that loves cooking will absolutely love taking care of their very own ingredients and they will certainly flourish while doing so.
In the event that you have an older kid that enjoys driving, then you can allow him or her to drive the tractor to plow the land etc.
Children (like mine) that are animal crazy might like to take on the responsibility of feeding one or more of the animals.
2. Give Your Kids Job Titles
Another way to get your kids more involved around the homestead is to give them specific job titles which indicate what they’re in charge of doing.
This is a fun way to give them responsibility and your kids will absolutely love the idea of having a real job.
If you have younger kids and you want them to do chores such as watering and picking vegetables or pulling weeds, then you can give them the title of Executive Vegetable Assistant or Farm Aide or Chief Waterer etc.
The point is to get creative and make them feel proud to have a specific job that only they can do.
3. Start Young
As a parent, you may want to wait till your kids are older before you have them do chores around the homestead.
However, this is a grave mistake and you should strive to give them chores as early as possible. This is essential because you want them to get accustomed to living on a homestead and seeing chores as a normal part of daily life.
Children will embrace whatever seems normal to them, so you want to make sure chores seem normal.
So, when they are toddlers, you can take them with you while you do chores, even though it may be a bit of a bother for you to take them out with you, it is the start of them learning how the tasks are done. This will normalize the act and they will be more than ready to help when they can.
You might be surprised at what a 3 year old can achieve with a little time and patience from you.
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4. Allow Your Teenagers To Hunt
Many people think that allowing teenagers to hunt or see dead animals, blood etc will be harming to them psychologically.
However, this isn’t true and it can give them a greater appreciation of where their food comes from and how meat is procured for them to eat.
Boys in particular generally love the idea of hunting, so getting them involved is definitely a great idea.
In the event that they’re not old enough to use a gun, then can still be around when it’s time to clean and butcher the animal.
However, this particular tip is one that you can consider according to your own kids and you definitely don’t want to force them to hunt or butcher animals if they don’t want to.
Our children are all exposed to butchering and processing animals right from a young age so it doesn’t bother them in the slightest.
5. Teach Them To Fix Things
There are many things that can and will go wrong on your homestead. For example, sheep or goats may make holes in the fence or the floorboards can get loose etc.
As a result, fixing these things will become a part of daily life. You should definitely get the kids involved so they can learn to fix (or build) these things as well.
Kids naturally have very curious minds and they will most likely thoroughly enjoy learning these new skills. This will not only make them more useful but give you greater peace of mind knowing they can fix common problems without your help.
These life skills will stay with them right in to adulthood and they can be invaluable. Let your children tinker with old engines, building materials and tools – you might be surprised at what they manage to do!
Tips to get your Kids Involved in Homestead Chores
In closing, we have just covered a few tips that will enable you to get your kids more involved in homestead chores.
Start small but firm, set out what you expect from your children, and show them exactly how to do it. Don’t ask them to do things outside of their physical ability, but find small tasks that they can learn to do well.
Having these skills improves a child’s feeling of usefulness and self worth, I’m positive your kids will be more receptive to doing their chores and even come to enjoy them once they feel the benefits from them.
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