This article offers some tips that can make a dramatic difference in increasing cooperation and decreasing power struggles in the family
As parents, we put a lot of time and energy into helping our children complete the tasks that need to be achieved. From guiding little children to wash their teeth to supporting our teens through their high school assignments and exams.
It can feel heartbreaking to parents when their child pushes back with defiance or simply ignores them when asked to do some basic chores! The more the parent nags, the more the child resists and reacts, which is not the winning formula!
So, how can you make chores more inviting to your child?
Power struggles
It can feel like the parent is living in a world of endless jobs and the child is living in their world of play. Which can easily feel frustrating and unfair for parents already stressed and at maximum capacity! Children can easily get lost in their own world and not manage to shift their attention to their parent’s requests or reminders of tasks to be done.
There are a lot of skills that children need to develop relating to impulse control, coming to grips with time and the sequence of events, and developing focus and concentration. There are lots of complex connections happening in their brain as they learn to master the tasks that can seem so simple to an adult. We can’t make our child contribute to family chores. But we can help them achieve that which feels achievable to them and generally make chores much more fun and enjoyable for them.
Why won’t he listen?
When a parent feels ignored, they easily start to anticipate more resistance. Sometimes the parent only has to think about talking to their child about tasks and chores to become highly stressed. Then when the parent repeats their requests, the child can hear all that tension in their voice. Then the child tends to react to their parent’s tension and disconnect even further. The more a child anticipates or experiences criticism or coercion, the more resistant they become.
The parent repeats again with increased volume. The child ignores, walks away or fobs their parent off with “I’m busy” or “Why don’t you ask my sister?”. Then the parent gets really frustrated and raises their voice some more or doles out a punishment or a threat. “If you don’t clean your room, then you can’t have screen time”.
Sometimes exasperation can be expressed as sarcasm. “This isn’t a hotel you know”, which can feel shaming and causes the child to tune out even more or become explosive. Sound familiar? When parent and child get caught in a power struggle, nobody wins!
What does work?
Generally, if a child resists engaging with their parent’s requests quite a lot, it’s a cue to slow down, soften, get centred, reconnect and get curious and creative.
- It can help to take a step back from the situation
- Slow down. Take a deep breath and get centred. Stress leads to emotional disconnection and an inability to think clearly (for parent and child alike!).
- Aim to connect kindly before repeating your request.
- It isn’t time to force the issue or keep repeating the information that’s already been given, it’s time to reset and come back to the relationship.
- Remind yourself that your child maintaining positive associations with chores and contributing is what you ultimately want to aim for.
- Instead of fixating on making your child do what needs to be done, what’s needed is for to them do what needs to be done.
- Is your stress reflected in your tone of voice? Can you bring in a little self-empathy, reflecting to yourself? “All this pressure is too much, I feel really stretched. What do I need right now to de-stress a little?”
- Does your child need you to listen to what’s important to them in this moment? Perhaps asking, “Hey buddy, I can see you’re finding it hard to pick up your toys. Maybe we could do it together and sing our song at the same time”.
- Do they need some connecting hugs? Or you could put on that silly voice or exaggerated facials that they so love to bring in some giggles and dissipate some of that tension.
- Instead of repeating, nagging, criticising or raising your voice, seek eye contact, be warm, even affectionate. Aim to be inviting.
- Do it with them if necessary. “Do you want to put the soft toys in the big basket or put your clothes in the laundry basket?”
- Break the tasks down into achievable baby steps. Write down the plan or draw a picture. Make it fun. “Let’s do it together, will we be bears making our cave all tidy and cosy?”
- Invite them to repeat your request or question to seek further engagement and clarity.
- If resistant, enquire into what they’re feeling, and what would make it easier. “Hey love, you seem really frustrated about me mentioning your homework. Are you feeling stressed?”. Have a mini-meeting and talk about wants and needs. “What you want to do this afternoon? We’ll make a plan for fitting in doing your need to get homework finished.”
You might also enjoy my article When teenagers refuse to do chores
Children lose their motivation to cooperate when they lose the warm connection with their caregiver
A gentle touch or a little humour and fun lets the child know that their parent is being patient and kind. This tends to disarm much of their defensiveness and hence resistance.
Children are either in the stress response or growth mode, we want them to want to hear us and follow our guidance. We want to preserve and foster their intrinsic motivation to learn through imitating and cooperating and having their contributions appreciated. Empathy and affection re-establish the enjoyment of connection.
It’s hard for the child to pull away from that intense drive to stay engaged in their play, which deserves our empathy. “It is hard to end your play and focus on helping with jobs! So let’s make it fun hey!”.
When children feel liked, listened to, believed in, encouraged and supported, they have more energy and motivation to cooperate. Inch-by-inch the parent’s patient guidance becomes internalised and the child builds their confidence and sense of competence. Children helped in these ways will be more likely to grow up to be those who contribute and work in their chosen profession with more enthusiasm, passion and self-responsibility.
Your kindness and patience in helping them focus on and achieve tasks will set them up for success now and into the future
It’s not necessary to do all of the above every time. But resistance is usually the cue that the child is needing extra encouragement and support. When you do have the extra time, show genuine interest in their world and whatever they’re currently engaged with. Before explaining what needs to be achieved or rectified and then calmly explain what needs to happen. This generally fosters more genuine cooperation.
What’s even more important than the child doing the chore is that they feel good about their achievements. That they develop a positive self-image as someone who contributes and whose contributions are appreciated.
Your child doesn’t have a sense of timing as we adults do, we need to keep encouraging them to move forward one step at a time. They need us to be very specific and help them see themselves doing that next step. Visual checklists can really help children to keep anchoring back to what needs to be achieved. Checklists differ from reward charts in that they’re not based on evaluating progress and hence afford the child more ownership of their tasks.
Related Article: 7 Secrets of success in getting a toddler dressed
In this article, I reveal some practical tips that make a huge difference in engaging and empowering children to get dressed and carry out other basic daily tasks.
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Demanding “Just do it!” is not setting the child up for success
It’s inviting power struggles while giving permission to children to speak like that to other family members. When parents are impatient, demanding or critical, it puts the child into the stress response and causes them to shut down. In this shutdown state, even simple tasks can feel overwhelming.
Don’t just say “Just do it because I said so”. Calmly giving a reason for our request while also showing care for their feelings can help our child engage their will and find the energy for the task. “I know you’re tired, my boy, and want to relax. The reason I asked if you’d be willing to set the table now is because the food’s nearly ready. I’m keen for us to all sit and eat while the food is hot”.
Sometimes problem-solving together helps children take more ownership. “Hmm… this is tricky, you don’t want to get dressed. But kindy starts soon, what’s the solution I wonder?”
The only co-operation worth having is that which is given freely by a child, not because he has been frightened into obedience, but because he feels loved, respected, and understood, and consequently wants to treat his parents with love and respect in return. – Jan Hunt
Each parent needs to decide if they’re expressing a request or holding a limit while maintaining the connection.
Requests are more inviting than demands
I believe it is our nature to enjoy giving and receiving in a compassionate manner. – Marshall Rosenberg
Demands invite a child to either submit or rebel but don’t leave much room for initiative. They can feel humiliating for children (just as they do for most adults). Demands can cause children to feel overly pressurised and can lead to resentment, especially when they’re infused with critical tones. Children can feel coerced and controlled.
When a child complies with a demand, they tend to just feel like they’ve done what they were told. They experience a temporary relief from the pressure at best. Demands lead to parent and child missing out on the natural joy of willing cooperation and mutual satisfaction of a job well done. Demands generally cause children to lose their natural desire to cooperate and contribute.
Requests, on the other hand, are more inviting and attractive and help foster a healthy team spirit. When the child cooperates with a request, they tend to enjoy and feel proud of their achievements. Requests give a child more choice. Hence more ownership and allow the child to operate from free will and maintain their sense of autonomy and dignity.
One of the biggest drawbacks with demands is that the child tends to build negative associations with their learning, self-care, food or whatever has been demanded of them. Especially when followed by negative consequences if they don’t comply.
Marshall Rosenberg, the author of Nonviolent Communication, describes that threats and requests can often sound the same. But can be differentiated by whether the parent becomes intolerant or punitive if the child shows resistance.
Phrases that express a request rather than a demand
“Would you be willing to help with the dinner? If so, would you prefer to set the table or get some leaves from the garden for the salad?”
“Can you put these toys away before lunch, or would you like my help with it?”
“Do you need me to remind you what needs to be done, or can you tell me?”
“Can I support you to get your room back to being tidy today? What else would you like to achieve today?”
“Let’s all talk about our wants and needs that we want to fit into this morning”
Or… “We’re all going to do jobs until lunchtime, which job would you like to do first? Would you like my help in getting started?” or “Let’s think about how we can make it more fun”
“I want to support you to fit in both doing your homework and having some downtime and connection time with the family before bedtime. So let’s make a plan”
“Honey I see you’re about to go on the computer. Let’s think about what time it is now and what needs to be done this evening so you feel more organised before going to school in the morning.”
Requests are much more likely to be received as an expression of care and support
This is dramatically more motivating and encouraging than demands, threats, lectures or nagging. By guiding in this way, you’re helping your child focus and expand their thinking without criticising them.
We want our children to be socially responsible, considerate and generous in their contributions. That they do this because it feels good to them, and feels right. We want them to enjoy being part of a system that works well and enjoy the harmony and mutual appreciation of working together. Genuinely enjoying the positive feelings that contributing brings.
If they still refuse to cooperate, what then?
Be willing to accept their “no” with the less important things. Children need to have enough choice and autonomy, which includes being allowed to express their “no’s” if they’re to genuinely enjoy cooperating much of the time. There are many things that children have to do or can’t do regardless of whether it makes sense to them, like brushing their teeth and going to bed. So it’s important that we can be flexible in giving them some choices in their world.
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Check your tone of voice
Children get their energy from their connection with us and when that breaks down, it’s like pulling the plug on their power supply. It’s hard for us parents to bring ourselves back to a more calm and level tone again and again. Yet the reality is that most kids just can’t operate very well when that connection breaks down. Empathy and connection can help a child let go and move forward to the next thing. “Sometimes it’s really, really hard to stop doing something we enjoy isn’t it?”
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Sharing our feelings
As long as they’re not expressed with intensity, our feelings can help children consider our needs in the situation. Helping them make the adjustment. “I’m feeling worried about whether I’ll get to work on time. Can we work together to leave the house in 15 minutes?”
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Fun and humour makes the next step more inviting
“I can see it’s really hard to stop building. You’ve been working so hard on building your castle, but it’s bath time. Would you like a piggy back?” or “It’s time to leave, let’s skip to the car!”
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If resistance has become a pattern
It can be good to invite them to share their feelings at a neutral time. Make it clear that you’re caring about why they’re finding it hard or choosing not to co-operate. Is there some repair needed following recent conflicts? Or are they generally feeling a bit distant? Maybe there’s a need to carve out some quality one-on-one time to bring back the closeness.
And if they still don’t…
If your child seems unwilling to cooperate a lot of the time, it’s very often indicative of the child having some difficult feelings that they need our help releasing and resolving. In this case, we would come back to the task at hand later (if possible) when they’ve had their emotional needs met. If it’s cleaning their room, putting toys away etc, expand out your time frame on when it needs to happen. Settle in to reconnecting, active listening and making space for the feelings and thoughts that the limit or request has brought up for them.
Whether we stop to consider their feelings and needs as we guide children largely determines whether the interaction will go well or will result in a power struggle or an argument. Even though it can be hard to stop, think and edit what we want to say and imagine how our words and tone will feel for our child on the receiving end, this is the big work of parenting. Yet the rewards of increased harmony and greater self-discipline for our child as the years go on make it so worth the effort.
Genevieve Simperingham is a Psychosynthesis Counsellor, a Parenting Instructor and coach, public speaker, human rights advocate, writer and the founder of The Peaceful Parent Institute. Check out her articles, Peaceful Parenting eCourses, forums and one-year Peaceful Parenting Instructor Training through this website or join over 90,000 followers on her Facebook page The Way of the Peaceful Parent.
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