I am a big believer in delegating to my children. It helps me, and I genuinely believe it allows them to become responsible, independent adults.
Many of the skills and techniques we use when delegating at our jobs can be directly translated to empowering kids.
Make sure they can do the task.
Whatever you ask your children to do, make sure that your child can do the task. Little kids cannot be expected to do the same jobs as teenagers.
When my kids were little, they started taking their dishes to the sink once they had finished eating. Now that they are teenagers, they still take their dishes to the kitchen, but now the expectation is that they rinse their own dishes at a minimum. We also take our turns to wash, dry and put away the dishes.
Our kids started out by helping with tasks first, then as they grow and mature, you explain how to take on more. Then you supervise them until you are confident they can safely do the task.
Allow them space to do the task
Set clear expectations
When I was working on getting my children to wash up, they both played the “do the job badly, and mum will take over card”. If this happened, I would stop myself and make sure they were doing the job. IF they did it poorly, I…
