让孩子们爱上家务的软件

Other apps include Epic Win, a role-playing to-do list manager, and iRewardChart and Chore Pad, digital replacements for traditional chore charts with stickers or stars.
其它的此类应用包括一款可以角色扮演的待做家务清单软件“史诗胜利”(Epic Win)，以及“奖励表格”(iRewardChart)和“家务便笺”(Chore Pad)，后两款软件可以取代传统的用便签纸和小星星来做标记的家务清单。

Chores teach kids self-control and self-regulation, says Jim Fay, co-founder of the Love and Logic Institute, a Golden, Colo., provider of parent training and resources. Research shows self-regulation─learning to invest effort and persist in finishing difficult tasks─is a powerful predictor of academic and career success. It's best to start instilling the habit early, Mr. Fay says, teaching children that chores are a shared family responsibility and each member is expected to contribute. If parents can find a way to make chores fun by, say, pretending the open washing machine is a basketball hoop, he says, 'go for it.'
科罗拉多州戈尔登(Golden)的“爱与逻辑事务所”(Love and Logic Institute)的联合创始人吉姆•费伊(Jim Fay)说，家务能够教会孩子自我控制和自我调节。该事务所是一家专门提供家庭教育培训和资源的机构。研究表明，自我调节能力──投入努力并坚持完成艰巨任务的能力──是学术和职业生涯能否成功的一个重要指标。费伊说，自我调节习惯越早灌输越好，应该让孩子们明白：家务是一种需要分担的家庭责任，每一位家庭成员都应该贡献自己的力量。他说，家长如果能找到一种方法让做家务变得更加有趣，比如让孩子把打开的洗衣机看成是个投篮筐，那么“就这样去做吧”。

Working side by side with youngsters on household jobs can be a motivator. By the time they were 3, each of Denise Benham's four kids was pushing a toy lawn mower around the yard behind their father Royce, says the Kennewick, Wash., mother. They learned as toddlers to measure and do basic math by breaking eggs for pancake batter and pouring soap into the washer. Now 4 to 16, the kids do chores with their parents most Saturdays. 'A bond is created when we work together,' Ms. Benham says, while also conveying the importance of a clean, orderly home.
和其他的孩子一起做家务也会是一种动力。华盛顿州肯纳威克(Kennewick)的丹尼丝•贝纳姆(Denise Benham)是四个孩子的母亲，她说，每个孩子在三岁左右的时候都要在院子里跟在父亲罗伊斯(Royce)身后推一台玩具割草机。他们幼儿时期就学会了测量，并通过做煎饼时帮忙打鸡蛋和将洗衣液倒入洗衣机这些事情来学习基本的算数。现在最小的孩子已经四岁，最大的16岁，他们几乎每个星期六都会和父母一同做家务。贝纳姆说：“我们一起干活时建立了一种特殊的关系”，同时也向孩子们传达了家里整洁有序很重要这一信息。

Parenting experts advise treating teens like adults, setting clear expectations and consistent consequences. Jayna and David Cox write and sign a housework contract annually with their 13-year-old twins, Seth and Jenna, paying $5 a week for duties such as laundry and kitchen cleanup, says Ms. Cox, of Oklahoma City. This year, they added mowing the lawn. 'We're businesspeople, and we feel it doesn't hurt for the children to learn a few things about business,' says Ms. Cox, an information-technology project manager. The twins can earn bonuses for extra work, but their pay is docked if they slack off.
家庭教育专家建议，对待青少年应该和对待大人一样，设定明确的期望和前后一致的奖惩。俄克拉何马城(Oklahoma City)的杰娜•科克斯(Jayna Cox)和戴维•科克斯(David Cox)夫妇有一对13岁的双胞胎孩子──塞思(Seth)和詹娜(Jenna)。每年父母都会和双胞胎签订一份家务合同，合同规定每周会支付双胞胎五美元以完成洗衣服和清理厨房等家务。今年，他们又增加了修剪草坪的项目。身为IT项目经理的杰娜说：“作为商务人士，我们觉得让孩子们了解一些商业知识没什么坏处。”双胞胎可以通过额外的工作赚取奖金，但一旦他们在家务事上有所懈怠，薪酬就会遭到削减。

Such setups require parents to coach their kids on housework skills, but also to give up some control─and avoid micromanaging, which can lead to conflict with teens trying to assert their independence. Ms. Cox says that while she has shown Seth and Jenna how to do laundry correctly, Seth still washes colors and whites together sometimes. 'He doesn't always care if his socks were once white and are all gray now,' she says.
这样的安排要求家长们能够在家务技能方面指导他们的孩子，但也意味着要放弃一些控制，还要避免事无巨细的监管，因为这可能会导致父母与努力要证明自身独立的孩子发生冲突。杰娜说，尽管她已经教过塞思和詹娜如何洗衣服，可是有的时候塞思还是会将有色衣物和白色衣物混在一起洗。她说：“他一点也不在乎原来的白袜子被染成灰色了。”

More important, she says, is that the twins are learning the natural consequences of failing to be responsible: 'If they don't do the laundry, they don't have clean clothes.'
她说，这其中更重要的是，两个孩子学习到了不负责任会有什么后果：“如果他们不洗衣服，就没有干净的衣服穿了。”