📋 Responsibility starts with you teaching your children. Responsibility really does start at an early age. You want to start small and age-appropriate simple tasks.

Your 5 or 6-year-old may help you unload the dishwasher. Your 10 or 11-year-old may start taking out the trash. You want to use routines to teach them accountability and structure. Repetition is going to be your friend in this task.

Model responsibility – you take out the trash. I’m also give them choices. Let them make small decisions when it’s appropriate – choosing snacks or what they’re going to wear for. Absolutely, absolutely.

Another important thing is to teach consequences, so don’t always rescue your child. Help have them help kind of brainstorm, try to problem solve. Absolutely. And let them tell their teacher why they didn’t bring. That’s right. And if they mess up, it’s okay. Praise effort, not just results, so it’s always an A for effort.

And chore charts are something I always use with my kids. They help absolutely. A lot, absolutely, absolutely. You also want to encourage problem solving as much as possible. That’s right. That helps them in the long run, not just with responsibility, but also with life skills.