Teenage Help Required?

Your teenagers well and truly know that cleaning is no game, but that doesn't exclude them from the responsibility of helping around the house. So how do you get them involved?

 Housework is emotional. No one wants to do it but everyone feels obliged. The key to getting your teenagers involved is to understand their emotions regarding your home and the standard of their environment.

 Ask them what they love about their home and more importantly, what they don't? Then try working together to find some solutions to creating a better environment.

 Part of improving your environment will be better organisation and less clutter. Ask your children which areas of the house bother them the most and what they can suggest to improve those areas.

 While you're having this family discussion, explain that in order to create a happier and calmer family home, everyone needs to be involved. Present them with a list of jobs that need to be done around the house on a regular basis and ask them to mark off three jobs they prefer. Tell them if they don't, you will allocate three jobs to them. You'll find they will quickly become involved and make the choices themselves!

 Once you have everybody's buy-in, create a job chart that outlines their weekly responsibilities. Put it somewhere where you can all see it.

 Ask your kids to keep track of the time it takes to do their respective jobs. At the end of the week, if needed, you can reallocate tasks so that each of them is spending roughly the same amount of time in helping around the house.

 By involving them from the start and getting them to understand their emotional connection to their home, you will find there will be less conflict in getting the cleaning done and your home well organised.