Riki Intner’s guidelines on how to create a family that works together:
Everyone works — Schedule every family member to do a job at the same
time.
Separate household chores and allowance — Allowance is a tool for teaching
kids to use money responsibly. Routine work is everyone’s responsibility.
Designate some jobs as paid work, but don’t pay kids for washing dishes or
vacuuming.
Set deadlines — Use charts, lists and timers. Check on progress, but don’t
nag. Just say, ”Oops! Time to finish.”
Set consequences — Decide in ad vance that if the toys are picked up on
time, Mom puts them in a box, and the kids can’t have them back until Sunday.
Offer choices, but set limits -The choice isn’t whether or not to pick up
the toys, but whether to put the ball on first shelf or second shelf.
Stress acting instead of talking -Don’t explain too much. If they’re
listening, they’re not working.
Avoid assumptions — Be clear about what needs to be done.
Assign work, not blame — It doesn’t matter who made the mess. It needs to
be cleaned up.
Allow for mistakes — Stress learning from errors, and dealing with the
results.
Learn to love a lumpy bed — As long as they’ve done their best, don’t find
fault with every little thing.
