It does take some strategy on your part to find those tasks that are age-appropriate and interesting to the kids, yet still useful to you. As parents, we are always looking for ways to teach our kids new skills and to infuse them with a sense of responsibility. This is a perfect opportunity for that. The younger your kids are when you start having them help you around the home office, the more enthusiastic they will likely be. However, it won’t always be easy to incorporate into your routine the help little ones are able to give. As they grow you will find more things to do. At first, not everything you might have the kids do will be truly useful to you, but even jobs that you don’t really need to be done prove a benefit. These tasks can teach a skill, make kids feel needed, and keep them occupied while you work. And over time the skills they gain will allow them to become truly helpful to you. Also as kids grow older, they will be more aware when tasks are busy work, so it is important to keep upping the ante in the complexity of jobs you ask of your children. The ideas in this article generally progress by age, starting with things little ones can do and ending with jobs for older kids. If your business takes in cash, let kids count the money after you have. This is a great skill for them to learn, and it never hurts to have someone check your work. But don’t stop with paper files. Your kids can also organize your computer files and email, dragging and dropping pictures and other files into folders for you. While most office work is probably best for older kids, little ones can make copies, collate, staple. They can fold brochures or put business cards in your marketing materials.
