autonomy

This article is reprinted from Christine Carter’s blog about raising happy kids, which can be found on the Greater Good Magazine website.

Last week I detailed the grave dangers that research has linked to bribing and rewarding children.  Fortunately, research also gives us ways to motivate our children to do those often boring but necessary tasks.

My own children have a lot to accomplish from the time they get home from school to the time they head to bed, which is generally about three hours or less:

• Clean out and put away their backpacks
• 20-30 minutes of homework, plus another 20 minutes of reading
• Empty the dishwasher
• Help cook dinner
• Help clean up the kitchen
• Make lunches for the next day
• Feed and attend to their pets
• Put their clothes away and pick up their rooms
• Shower (not that often, truth be told)
• Pick out their clothes for the next day

[click to continue…]

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