Having your kids help with outdoor chores and activities will benefit both of you. Sometimes it’s hard to have your kids help when you just want to get things done. Kids can slow down the process. They often do things incorrectly and that could cause frustration. However, the lessons children learn from helping with outdoor chores will benefit them their entire life. Here are 3 ways your kids can benefit from outdoor chores.
Gets Them Outside and Moving
Kids spend an enormous amount of their time indoors playing video games. I know some kids that are forced to go outside everyday, otherwise they go days without seeing the sun. Kids used to beg to go outside to play. They used sticks for toys and climbed trees. Having your kids help you with outdoor chores will give them some vitamin D and let them be outside with you. You can play a game while you’re gardening and let your kids stretch their imagination. Be a pirate that needs to swab the deck (raking). Or be a treasure hunter finding treasure (picking apples).
Helps Your Child Develop Skills
When your child helps you weed, grow a garden, rake leaves, or pick fruit they are learning so much at the same time! Children’s minds are so moldable and they can quickly learn new skills. As you teach your child what a weed looks like, opposed to the flower, they will remember that and use that new skill in the future. When your child grows up they will use the skills they learned as a child. They skills they learn now, can be with them their entire life. Help your child find what they are good at, or what they enjoy. Maybe they hate weeding, so do I. But maybe they love planting flowers. Have your child help you by doing things they enjoy. That way they’ll be excited about helping you. It’s important to note that doing things you don’t like teaches you things too. I didn’t like weeding, but I still had to do it, and it taught me that sometimes you have to do things you don’t like.
Image Source: Pixabay
Teaches Delayed Gratification
Sometimes you don’t see results of outdoor chores right away. When you plant new grass, you won’t see the results of your hard work for weeks. Children can be impatient and doing things without seeing their hard work pay off, can be hard for them. Helping with outdoor chores can show your children that although their work might not pay off right away, it will pay off eventually. Taking care of your fruit tree after it’s planted won’t pay off for a couple of years. Hopefully when they’re eating homemade apple pie, they’ll think it has paid off. This is a valuable lesson to learn for a young person. Learning this while they’re young will benefit them their entire life. As they go throughout life they’ll learn to put aside short term happiness for long term success.
Summing Up
Outdoor chores benefit children in many ways. They’ll learn to work hard, they’ll get outside and play, they’ll learn the importance of delayed gratification, and develop a lot of new skills. Have your kids help you with outdoor tasks and teach them all about the importance of it. Hopefully years down the road they thank you for what you taught them.
Image Source: Pixabay
