Breaking Tasks into Chunks

Large tasks can seem very overwhelming to children. Some children cannot manage multi-step instruction. They cannot manage multi-step tasks either. Oftentimes, asking a child to complete a multi-step task, without breaking the task down, leads to failure. It is easier for children to master multi-step tasks, if the parent asks the child to do one step at a time.

Poor Example:

Johnny asked his 5-year-old son to clean his room. His son’s room was a mess. It would require picking up toys, making the bed, vacuuming the floor, putting clean laundry away, and putting dirty laundry in the basket. Johnny’s son walked into the room. He felt extremely overwhelmed. Instead of cleaning, he sat on the floor and cried.

Good Example:

The next day, Johnny decided to break the task down into chunks. Johnny asked his 5-year-old son to make his bed. He rewarded his son with a little bit of game time.

Johnny then asked his son to pick up his toys. This was difficult for his son, because there was a lot of toys. It was overwhelming to him and he had never successfully done it before. Johnny helped his son by picking up toys together. His son experienced how easy it was to pick up toys. Johnny knew that this experience would make it less stressful, the next time he attempted to pick up toys. After he picked up the toys, Johnny gave his son a little break.

Johnny asked his son to pick up the dirty laundry next. The job was not very difficult and Johnny finished it quickly. He was rewarded with a little break.

After his break, Johnny asked his son to put away the clean laundry. By this time, his son was feeling very confident. He could visually see the progress that he had made. He also experienced himself earning free time. The reward and the visual accomplishment were gratifying. The internal realization that he can accomplish a big task, was also rewarding.

After another break time, Johnny asked his son to vacuum the floor. This was easily accomplished. Johnny had to be helped with setting up the vacuum and putting it away, but the rest of the vacuuming was completed without a problem.

Poor Example:

Johnny left a note for his teenage daughter to clean the house. She came home from school, saw the note, and looked around the house. She did not know where to begin. The idea felt very overwhelming. She felt anxious. She called Johnny on the phone and complained about how her life is unfair. She cried and yelled. In the end, she did not clean the house.

Good Example:

Johnny broke the housework down into small chunks and left a checklist for his teenage daughter to do. When she arrived home from school, she saw the checklist. She could visually see how many tasks needed to be accomplished. She could see how each task, by itself, was easily doable. She calculated the time for each task and realized that by themselves, each task would not take very long to do. She calculated how long the entire list would take her and how much time in her day she would have left over. She realized that she would still have plenty of time at the end of the day to enjoy herself. She immediately went to work on the checklist.