The purpose of a contract is to provide an agreement which clearly specifies the behavior expected and the rewards that can be earned. It is written in simple language (or pictures for small children), is displayed publicly, and helps the parties involved remember the terms of the agreement. Often such an agreement is posted somewhere in easy view and can be used for recording daily behavior change, such as earning gold stars or points. With young children, parents usually set up a contract on the basis of what they already know about rewards for their children. With older children, parents may need to negotiate a contract that is, specifying what they want the children to do, exploring what the children would like to earn, and agreeing upon a fair system of behavior and rewards.

Parents may have to spend considerable time with the children in negotiation because of disagreements about the value of rewards (children sometimes arc unrealistic about the cost of material things), and the amount of effort that should go into earning them. Like management and labor, parents and children can usually reach an agreement and can finally ’sign’ the document to show good faith. If the terms of the contract are carried out by the child, parents must follow through on their end of the bargain. If either party cannot abide by the agreement, the contract Mould he terminated and a new one drawn up. It is usually, best to make a contract for only a short period of time (a week or two), since experience may find it to be too easy or too difficult.

Even the best contracts have to be reassessed every now and then. Having a written contract is valuable because it requires a positive focus, serves as a visual reminder of the agreement, and keeps both parents and children on target.

In carrying out such a contract, Mother in4y wish to check the room with Sally in the afternoon just before her daily snack time. She already knows Sally likes biscuits, chocolate milkshake and fruit. Yet, it may be neccessary to prompt Sally at first, re-explain and show her how to do each of the things shown in the pictorial contract, using the step-by-step principle. After a couple of days, Sally should be able to manage without further instruction, depending on her age and physical skills (and upon the degree of perfection her mother expects)!

A number of assumptions are included in this example of a contract. First, the child must know exactly what the tasks involve (when defined as ‘bed made’ or ‘table cleared’). Second, the parents will have to decide which the more important aspects of behaviour to them are and which seem to be the easiest. Points are then weighted accordingly. We are also assuming that the sister who is being ‘insulted’ is able to focus positively and determine, on an hourly basis, whether she was insulted or not. (The problem behavior is `insults’, which are easy to count, but that would be negative focus. The sister must be able to record time without such insults so that the family may reward it.)

In the sample contract, the child gets a choice of how to cash in earned points. There is a long-term ’special reward’ included so that, after 150 total points are earned, a party can be given. Such events happen occasionally in most families anyway, so why not include a party for a special reward? The chart shows daily progress and steps towards the big reward. If the child is doing a good job on most items, the parents may allow self-monitoring (or self scoring) and marking-up of points (with occasional checks for accuracy). The whole thing finishes about three week later (an older child may be able to handle this longer period), and may be reassessed at that time if necessary.

Remember, in forming a contract:

1. Pinpoint the desired behavior.

2. Whenever appropriate, state the checking time when the improvement in behaviour has to be completed. Just saying ‘feed the dog daily’ could mean any time within 24 hours.

3. State the behavior with a positive focus.

4. Clearly specify what the rewards are, their cost, and when they will be given.

5. Place the contract in a public place for all to see. Most children really like earning things and seeing their progress publicly displayed.

6. Re-evaluate the contract on a weekly basis to determine effectiveness. If necessary, new reward values can be assigned to desired behavior. For example, if an improvement in behavior is not occurring at all, the reward may be too small and can be increased.

Contracts are a common means of adult communication. They require both parties to be clear about their desires and expectations, and they specify both rewards for successful completion and penalties for failure. If we are to improve communication with children, such clear statements can be of value. Although a written contract is not always necessary (just as it is not always necessary between adults) dues allow for fewer misunderstandings. Also, a written contract says to both parties’ `We are serious about changing things here!’

Imagine this situation: Mum and Dad have two young children. At the end of the day, Dad comes home, hoping to watch the six o’clock news. The children are running about, making a lot of noise. Dad calls out to Mum in the other room. ‘You’re at home with these children all the time. Can’t you do something about this noise? I work all day and I’d like to come home just once in a while and have a little peace and quiet.’ This father believes that it is the mother’s responsibility to make sure the children are quiet when he is there.

In a minor variation of the same situation, Mum may come home from work to hear Dad say, ‘These children have been a terror today, and I want you to do something about it!’ he believes that the mother has responsibility to deal out the punishment and may have threatened the children with ‘Just wait until your mother gets home!’

Some parents believe that ‘boy problems’ are Dad’s responsibility while ‘girl problems’ are Mum’s. A mother will say `Can’t you do something with that son of yours?’ while the father suggests, ‘You’d better have a talk with your daughter.’ Such division of parental responsibility is inefficient for dealing with child problems. We advocate an equal relationship, with shared roles and responsibilities.

A family is built upon a complex system of situations between parents, children and often relatives. It should be apparent that a child’s behavior is unlikely to change if only one family member modifies his or her reactions while the others continue on as before. If we want any behavioral change program to be effective, it must include all members of the family, specifying the part each person plays in the situation, what they must do, and how they must change. Everybody can be involved in the planning by sitting down together and talking it over, so that everyone knows what is going on.

Weight loss is a slow process. Pounds do not suddenly disappear, and any person changing their eating habits needs all the encouragement possible. With all family members involved and on a positive focus, there can be lots of social rewards for exercising, eating smaller portions, and giving up high-calorie foods.

Thus, regardless of the behavior to be changed, you need to be sure that all family members are involved, know how to socially reward the desired behavior, and follow through. Treat it as a family project where nobody feels excluded. It is particularly important that no family member suffers by a program to change another’,s behavior, because the likely reaction to an undeserved penalty is to sabotage the program.

How do you get other children in the family to co-operate with a behavioral change program, rather than ridicule the child involved or sabotage parents’ efforts? It’s no secret that children enjoy teasing and annoying each other, and may even be delighted when the other one gets into trouble with their parents. In short, children can develop an acute sense of negative focus by eagerly picking away at anything they know will irritate a brother or sister., The end result is that Mum or Dad must play referee. When dealing with a specific behavioral problem, we want to be sure that not only Mum and Dad, but also the brother and/or sister, have a positive focus on the improved behavior. Reward sharing provides a reason for the other child to encourage a change in behavior rather than hinder it.

Choosing the reward to share must be done carefully. It has to be something that everybody likes and it must he special — that is, something which doesn’t occur very often. In other words, it is not already a regular part of family entertainment. If it’s routine to go out for a meal every Friday night, don’t suddenly insist that one child has to behave correctly or nobody goes out. That puts everybody in the position of being punished if the child in question does not immediately perform well. It may result in great pressure from brothers or sisters who don’t want to be cheated out of their normal fun. Once the special family reward has been selected, behavior is then recorded and socially rewarded, step-by- step. Possibly points or stars can be used until a desired goal is reached. Then the family can share the special reward.

The emphasis is not on if the goal is going to be reached, but when. Parents should also avoid planning shared rewards that are time limited, running out at a certain date and placing a child under pressure Cif James gets 50 points by Sunday, we can all go to the beach’). Instead, it should be planned to allow the child to achieve success at his or her own pace (When James has collected 50 points, we can all have a day at the beach’).

In the first exam Dad set up a shared reward for the boys and specified the behavior required, but expected a perfect record by t he next weekend. When Wayne carried out his task for three out of five days, he got no reward for his partial success. Dick was completely faithful to the task, yet he too got no reward. Dad set it up so that any failure on Wayne’s part would automatically result in punishment for both boys, regardless of how well Dick did his job. Conflict between the two boys • can certainly be expected. David’s Dad, in the second example, sets up a shared reward system for both boys. No one is left out, and both are earning points towards separate family goals. Dad has set no time limit, sop he rewards any improvement in David’s efforts. The boys know that eventually they will be going to a cricket match. Alto Joel is likely to show more interest in David’s success and may even remind him to take care of his pet. Remember, in :a good reward sharing plan, you must he sure that the child:ren are sharing rewards and not being punished through denial of an expected reward. Keep in mind that rewards are a personal thing. With children of very different ages, you may have to do some searching for a reward that interests everybody! It is certainly desirable to ask, and to discuss with the children, which rewards would make everybody happy.

Besides being helpful in changing one child’s behaviour, there are also broader family benefits of reward sharing There is a shift toward a more positive focus and away from a ‘failure’ orientation. In addition, such joint efforts tend to give the family a sense of unity through working together

Just as parents socially reward children, children socially reward us as parents: by doing what is asked of them having a generally cheerful disposition, smiling and laughing, acting excited and happy when they see us, showing affection, and imitating our behavior – in short, by making us feel needed and loved.

As children grow into the teenage years there is often a marked change in their world of social rewards. They have many friends at school, an entire social structure outside the social rewards more than those at home. Parents often wonder what happened. They feel that their children no longer consider them so important. There may he some truth in this but if parents give a lot of social rewards (even to teenagers), it is reasonable to expect that teenagers will reciprocate. Teenagers can socially reward parents by showing affection (although perhaps toned-down), having a sense of humour, talking about their lives, showing interest in what their parents are doing, and not treating them as if they were horribly old-fashioned.

Finally, this principle applies not only between parents and children but is true with any two individuals, brother and sister, husband and wife, employer and employee, or friends.

What kinds of material rewards do you value? The list might include a nice home, clothes, jewelry, cars, perfume, and boats – just about anything money will buy! Of course children have their prized rewards too: sweets, biscuits, dolls, toys. Material rewards (as we use the term) are tangible objects that have some economic value.

There is another very important type of reward – the social variety. Social rewards are intangible, cost nothing, and there is no limit to the supply. Some of the most important rewards for children are attention, praise, smiles, affection, touching and laughter. When it comes to social rewards, it is interesting to note that adults respond to the same things that children like. In fact, most of our adult interactions and relationships are based upon social rewards.

There are also a few rewards that seem to fit into both categories, material objects that have primarily social value., such as gold stars, points, or marks. For adults, status, position, titles, and maybe even medals, qualify.

Social rewards are far more important than material rewards in changing behavior. Most of us would like to have lots of material possessions! Wealth can indeed make life easier, but happiness and feelings of satisfaction with life depend upon a great deal more than just material wealth. Social interactions – that is human relationships – give life its warmth and vitality. No one ever gets tired of friendship, love, appreciation, concern, or interest from others!

Never underestimate the power of social rewards. Long term change doesn’t come about from sweets and biscuits or gold stars. Meaningful behavior change comes from relating to children with love and care.

Theuse or non-use of money for school achievements is not really the issue here. Some parents feel happy about giving a ‘bonus’ for good marks, while others do not. The point is that, whether or not money is used, the real reward in terms of the parent-child relationship is the social reward. That is the one that will have the greatest long-term effects. We should note that the use of a material bonus for children’s achievements is in no way different from what happens with many adults who get something special for a ‘job well done’. Any kind of bonus is in part a social reward too, since it calls attention to the person’s behavior and singles it out for recognition. But, like the child example, a bonus paid to Dad or Mum by the boss personally, with a pal on the back and a comment about how good a job has been done, will certainly have more effect than just a cheque that shows up in a pay envelope without comment.

We sometimes hear young people say, `My dad was OK I suppose but he didn’t give anything of himself. Oh, he would give me money and buy me things, but there was no feeling between us,’ Or from a father, ‘After all I did for my son he still doesn’t seem to respect but don’t understand it. I bought him everything he wanted.’ Obviously material rewards are not enough!

None of us would like to be called a ‘miser’. It suggests someone stingy or selfish. But misers are not just the Ebenezer Scrooges who hoard money. Any of us can qualify as a ’social reward miser’. The necessary characteristics are:

I. Rarely show genuine interest in others;

2. Do not laugh with others;

3. Be cynical about what others are doing;

4. Fail to compliment others on their deeds or achievements; and

5. Keep a safe distance from others.

Think of people in your immediate life situation, such as relatives, friends, employers and acquaintances. How many of them in your judgment would qualify as social reward misers? Finally, how good are you at giving out social rewards?

Some parents are social reward misers with their children and arc not even aware of it. Often they feel that children `should’ do things out of a sense of duty.

“Children should obey their parents, children should keep themselves and their room clean, children should get good school results, children should do their jobs…” All of these are familiar phrases for children. Society has similar ones for adults: adults should pay their taxes, adults should work hard and be productive, adults should obey the speed limit. Yet, many people do not follow these adult ‘rules’ solely out of a sense of responsibility. How many citizens would pay their taxes on time if the tax-man didn’t care? Would all of us go to work and be productive without a wage packet? Would everyone obey speed limits without the police around?

In just the same way with children, many `shoulds’ don’t mean much unless there is some kind of reward (or perhaps even punishment) system involved to hack them up. Unfortunately, ’shoulds’ often imply the threat of punishment if a chore is not completed. Usually parents or children whose lives revolve around `shoulds’ are carrying a degree of fear or guilt. Parents who are social reward misers frequently expect children to do things out of “you should do” backed by a threat of punishment.

Some parents learn to be social reward misers because they themselves were treated that way as children.

If children are misbehaving and parents are becoming increasingly irritated, there may be less and less social rewarding – this is good training for becoming a reward miser! It is very difficult to-give social rewards to someone who makes us angry. This builds into a vicious circle because, as we stop using social rewards, the other person (whether child or adult) has less reason to behave in desirable ways – and so things get worse. When we ignore people who are doing things we want, it is likely they will not do those things in the future.

Adults often get caught in ‘miser traps’. While growing up, for instance, men get the message that they are supposed to be strong, silent, and somewhat emotionless. This often leads to holding back with social rewards.

is reflected best in a strong, silent and non-affectionate approach will very likely turn away from both his wife and children .

Another trap affects divorced parents. Mothers often have custody of children while fathers have access rights at weekends. Sometimes such a situation allows the father to make the mother appear to be a material and social-reward miser. When the children spend a weekend with him, they are allowed to do everything they like and have all his attention. Then, when they go back home to their mother who has the day-to-day living responsibilities and cannot provide instant entertainment’ all the time, they see her as no fun’ and a miser. Such a situation can deepen the wedge between the divorced parents and certainly doesn’t help the children either. On such a case, it is desirable that the divorced mother should express her concern to the children, talk over the situation with her ex-husband, and try to work out a compromise.)

There are several dangers of being a. social reward miser and also pointed out that parents who use lots of social rewards with their children for the right behavior will be more effective as parents. Just having children behave in ways that we like is a tremendous reward for us as parents! In addition to that, parents who give an abundance of social rewards will receive the same from their children.

The whole idea of popularity, of being liked by others, is based upon this fundamental rule: you get what you give.

The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority, they show disrespect to their elders. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and are tyrants over their teachers.”

Does any of that sound familiar? It is attributed to the Greek philosopher Socrates some 2,000 years ago! No doubt parents of every generation have commented on the spoiling of youth.

A ’spoiled child’ usually gets his or her own way regardless of parental wishes. Sometimes they can be annoying or even downright objectionable. Still, some parents tolerate it and wonder why the problem behavior continues. Such parents usually avoid any contradiction of the child’s wishes and often give the impression that they want to be very popular with their children. Because they give many material and social rewards to children, it is only natural to wonder if it isn’t the rewards that have spoiled the child. The fact of the matter is that the child has been taught to behave in an objectionable manner, not intentionally, but by being rewarded for laid behavior.

It is not an overabundance of rewards that results in a child behaving badly, but the non-systematic use of rewards. If a child is rewarded for all actions, we can expect to see a continuation of both good and had behavior.

The end result of years of this lifestyle is that the child’s behavior gets worse and worse until parents are so frustrated they don’t know what to do. Some seek professional help. They feel love for their child, yet are frustrated by the child’s behavior. Such parents may be so constantly angry that they can scarcely contain their anger, perhaps saying, “I don’t understand it, we’ve done everything for the boy, we’ve given him everything, we’ve loved him, and yet he’s always in trouble. At times I could wring his neck!”

The key to understanding lies in looking at how a child is being rewarded.

Resistance to unwelcome tasks can often be avoided if a small treat for everybody is promised ahead of time, such as an ice cream cone or a few minutes of play at the park. (Caution: Don’t make such an offer following an act of defiance!)

Children should ideally be like robots who unquestioningly jump and obey every parental command. Children have rights too, including the expression of their own desires and sometimes not wanting to participate in errands or do jobs.

`Spare the rod and spoil the child’ was a popular child- rearing maxim for our parents’ generation. Often it was interpreted as simply meaning that children should be punished frequently, as if punishment in itself were somehow good for them. However, ’spare the rod’ can also be interpreted as suggesting parents should set limits and guidelines for children – that is, not letting them do everything they want. Children really want parents to set guidelines and to define limits of behavior.

Rewarding ‘bad’ behavior, by repeatedly giving in or being permissive, teaches a child to behave badly. Do this for several months – maybe even years – and you have a spoiled child and later, perhaps, a spoiled adult. So parents should feel free to give lots of love and other social rewards. The key is that such social rewards are not appropriate to all behavior; but should be given selectively to the behavior we like and want to encourage in our

Indeed, a divorce may cause adjustment problems for people working out a new lifestyle, but the chances arc David pesters his mother because she accidentally rewards him, even though she wants him to stop. Her looks, touches, scolds, and even smacks arc still attention to David. To help him through the divorce adjustment, his mother needs to give him lots of reassurance and attention – but carefully to avoid doing so at times when David is acting in undesirable ways Although it may seem obvious that attention can be a social reward, too much of the obvious forms of attention (shouting, touching, grabbing) are not recommended, but the more subtle forms, such as a glance, smile, frown, eye contact, or physical gesture. In many families there is troublesome child behavior that is maintained by exactly these types of subtle attention rewards.

Many parents and teachers alike operate under the mistaken belief that publicly noticing ‘bad behavior’ will somehow stop it (indeed, much of our society operates on this erroneous principle). ‘Johnnie, Mother is watching.’ `Don’t go in there!’ ‘Leave your brother alone!’ Put that down this instant!’ Imagine a teacher looking out at her class: ‘Who is talking over there? Is that you, Peggy? Stop it right now! I expect to have absolute quiet in here.’ Often children giggle when a teacher reacts like that. Or the teacher may say: ‘Linda, get back in your seat. What are you doing on that side of the classroom?’ Is the teacher’s public notice going to stop the behavior, or is it actually an attention reward for the child? Aren’t the talkers and walkers in that classroom being actively rewarded by attention’? Many studies have demonstrated that such attention produces more and more of the very behavior that teachers want to end in their classrooms.

It is important to note, of course, that teachers and parents do not have control over all of the rewards which the child may receive in the situation. Disruptive classroom behavior, for instance, is powerfully rewarded by the attention of other children. In such cases, it may be necessary to use other procedures to eliminate the behavior.

There were a number of amusing examples in which college students purposely used attention in the classroom markedly to change their professor’s behavior without his or her knowledge of what was going on. One professor we knew tended to give very dull lectures, reading in a monotonous voice from his notes. Yet on rare occasions he would digress from the notes and describe interesting personal experiences related to the topic. Three students sitting in the front of the classroom agreed privately to look bored and inattentive during the lectures from notes, but to look very attentive and smile immediately when the professor talked about personal experiences. Within two weeks the professor, who did not know about the ‘experiment’, was not referring to his notes at all. Such is the power of attention and other social rewards!

`Monkey see, monkey do’ was a popular saying among parents when we were children. The slogan didn’t have much to do with monkeys but rather reflected a common observation of parents that children learn a great deal by just watching the behavior of others.

When we were children, many households had a ready supply of biscuits, lemonade or squash, which were often used as rewards (for doing jobs, keeping ‘out from under foot’, small successes at school or in sports). At that time, there was not the variety of ‘children’s treats’ on the market which there is today. With a tremendous range of biscuits, sweets and cakes and drinks available now, a parent cannot assume that a biscuit will have the value for children that it did when we were young.

Obvious? Perhaps, but we have seen parents become astonished when a child rejected a ‘reward’ that was offered. The parent considered the item as a reward; the child’s reaction demonstrated clearly that it was not!

When Grandpa was a child, getting a penny from his parents or grandparents was a big treat and he remembers it vividly, so he assumes that his grandchildren will consider it a great reward.

It is simply an economic fact that today’s penny is not worth much. When Grandpa was a youngster, it might have purchased a respectable amount of sweets. To these children his suggestion of a ‘big surprise’ evidently meant something else.

Often bedtime is also a time of conflict since children don’t like to get ready for bed and leave adult company. It is a rare young child who admits to being tired and wanting to go to bed! In this case the big surprise turned out to be no real surprise at all, leaving the children upset and perhaps feeling cheated, and Grandpa hurt and perplexed. His gesture of love was not seen by the children as generous, despite his caring intent.

This type of outcome happens in different ways at different ages. Parents sometimes offer ‘dinner out’ as a reward, having in mind a nice restaurant. But where do the children want to go? A pizza house or fast food place! Besides avoiding the assumption that children will like what parents like (or did like when they were children), we need to keep in mind the tastes of individual children.

if parents are to be effective in the use of rewards, they need to do a lot of questioning, observing, and testing to find out who likes what. We just can’t make assumptions about what others like. There is no universal reward for all people of all ages. As parents, we can’t assume that children necessarily like what we like, that what one child likes will be liked by another that children’s preference will not change over time. or that the sex of the child will tell you what he or she might like. This point is summed up nicely in a recent popular slogan: ‘Different strokes for different folks’.

When we talk about rewards and their use with children, a common reaction from parents is, ‘Why, you’re talking about a system of bribes!’ This concern is expressed so often that we want to give it special attention.

Suggesting the use of rewards with children is nothing new – it is the systematic, planned use of rewards t hat is important. All of us spend our lives in a constantly changing system of rewards – from early parental hugs and affection to gold stars in school, and on to grade marks and certificates. As adults we have salary scales, promotions, status, as well as interpersonal rewards from relationships with family and friends. It seems when people express a concern about ‘bribes’ it is not the idea of reward that they are objecting to, but the specific use of money as a reward, or objects purchased with money. Note, however, that hardly anyone does not consider a salary from work to be a bribe, nor do parents think of weekly pocket- money for their children as a bribe. And it is ridiculous to think of a hug, or a smile, or other spontaneous expression of love as a bribe!

So ‘bribe’ is really a loaded word. To most people the word suggests some kind of shady deal, a payment for something that shouldn’t really be clone. ‘Reward’ and ‘bribe’ then, arc not the same thing. A reward is a tangible expression of approval. A bribe is a payment for something ‘illegal’ or of questionable ethics.

With parents, this problem seems to come up most in situations where they assume the child ’should’ do something because of ‘duty’ or self-motivation. In such situations parents often see any sort of reward as being unnecessary or excessive, especially if the child doesn’t want to do something a parent thinks he or she should want to do. They may even feel that what the child really needs is a good smack. Yet we must remember that all of its do things because of the rewards involved – some immediate, some distant, some from our– selves, some from others. Children are no different.

We have heard parents protest, ‘Well, once you start re– warding children they won’t want to do anything without a reward. Are you going to follow them around the rest of their lives giving out rewards?’ Of course not. We do not suddenly ’start’ rewarding children. Their world is already full of rewards (and punishments). Parents can become systematic, however, by using those rewards which are preferred by individual children to motivate them toward desired behavior.

A child who is not learning to read may dislike reading because of the experience of failure. The parent may think the child should ‘want’ to read. If nothing is done, the result is a non-reading child, who falls further behind. Instead, the parent or teacher can use some kind of simple reward, such as points, tokens, or gold stars, to get the child to start reading and to motivate practice. As the child succeeds, that reward will no longer be necessary because reading itself, and the wonderful horizons it offers, become rewarding. Nobody has to follow a reading child around for the rest of his or her life rewarding reading! However you may have to provide an extra incentive to the non-reader for those first attempts, in order to get that child started. All parents are rewarded in a variety of ways for the things they do. Some of the ways are obvious (such as money or fame), and some are much harder to see but no less effective (self-congratulations or the respect of valued friends). These are not bribes for us, nor are our children’s prized rewards bribes for them! Systematic rewards merely bring the natural learning process under a degree of control.

There are not a lot of people who enjoy housework, but it is something that has to get done around the home. While everyone in your family will run busy lives, the housework cannot be all given to one person in the household. It should be a group effort by everyone living in the home, which will make everyone’s life a little easier.

Sit down with the whole family and make a list of everything that needs to be done around the home. Whether it been something that needs to be done daily, weekly, or even seasonally, make sure that you include it on your list. Talk to everyone in the family to see what they would be willing to pitch in and help with. If you family members fail to cooperate, than you may need to delegate tasks to them.

Make chores fun for the whole family. Offer rewards for those who complete their tasks, but also remember you will need to offer punishments like no television until they are completed. You will also want to consider their busy lives when nominating them for tasks. Keep it realistic so that the goals are easily attainable.

Set a certain time of the week or day to do tasks. This way, everyone pitches in and helps, and things get done a lot quicker. If you can find an hour of the day where everyone is home, you can complete everything that you needed to get done, and then you can move onto more fun activities. You can even plan a fun event afterwards to keep motivating everyone to finish.

Using these tips will help you be successful in getting your whole family to pitch in with the household chores. Everyone in your family will feel satisfied that the work is complete leaving more time for everyone in the family to enjoy more free time.