Children and Chores...
A guide to age appropriate tasks!
I started the chore list with my boys at 2. Some of you might be thinking "wow you slave driver you" but I am not turning my children into Cinderella, I promise.
Around 2 and 3:
Children LOVE to help you, and while sometimes this is very inconvenient and can really delay you...let them help. It might take an extra minute but the feeling they get from helping you and the things you are teaching them are PRICELESS! Remember, they grow up to fast! That being said, I started my boys out with making their bed every morning. It took a little longer before school in the mornings (they did a preschool program over the summer) but they felt good about themselves and they like having a neat room! At night they put their clothes in the dirty clothes, brush their teeth (with my help of course), and they clean their room. I have been so adament about every night before bed cleaning their room that if we have "one of those nights" (you know the ones...everything with them is exhausting, they won't listen, you are so frustrated you could cry...so you throw them to bed and be done with it) they tend to cry because their room is not clean. Which ends up being punishment for being naughty ha! Who knew that not doing a chore would ever benefit you huh?! Another thing is I have my 2 year old help feed and water the dog, put shoes and coat away every time we come home from errands, and last but not least he puts his own dishes BY the sink. I want to emphasize BY the sink because at 2 or 3 they are usually pretty short little things and when they put dishes IN the sink they tend to break. I have thankfully avoided this crisis. WHEW. But BY the sink and then I can easily rinse and put in the dishwasher!
Age 4 to 5:
At this age they are still loving to help you but they are also becoming VERY independent little creatures. I am sometimes devastated at how my 4 year old doesn't need me for a lot of things anymore. On a positive note, this means I am doing a good job on teaching him to tend to himself which will lead to great life skills! In addition to already mentioned chores, he also LOVES helping bring in groceries. He will actually cry if he doesn't get to help because he wants to help me SO bad. Most of this stems from my husband being away at work for months at a time. He also helps me cook and bake. This is a great way to teach him basic math skills plus this will be a handy life skill when hes 24 and wants to impress his girlfriend.
Age 6 to 8
Let's face it, the thrill of helping you has passed...but if they have been doing chores for years already than it is likely they will just do them out of routine. It is also likely that by now aliens have abducted the child you thought you knew and left you a ornerier version. Some alien abductors wait until children are between 9 and 10 so don't worry parents, your time is coming. You can't avoid it so hold on and go with it!
This age group is still responsible for the basics: make bed, clean room, help with pet, clear dishes (I think it is safe to say they can now put the dishes IN the sink instead of BY the sink...unless you have a little person, in that case, invest in a stool!), and they can even help you dust, load the dishwasher, take out the smaller trashes around the house, and depending on your vacuum, they can do that too! They can do far more than we sometimes give them credit for. And if you live in an area in which you get hit with monuments amounts of snowfall, hand them a shovel. Yes they will probably hate you for this but you are not their best friend. You are their parent. More people need to realize this. AAAANYWAAAYS.
Age 9 to 13
Have they been abducted yet? Hopefully you have been bumping up those rewards on that chore chart I gave you. I don't think at this age a cookie after lunch will get them to take out the trash. But if that one still works, roll with it! You need to base rewards on each child differently because one child may think the purchase of a new movie is great, others would rather have a book. I encourage the book more as the only tv my children really watch is the educational stuff. Mostly anyways. Now this age group is great for cleaning an entire room! YES FINALLY! Will they though? That is up to you to gently enforce. At this age and up the more you are STRICT about things the more rebellious they will get. But do not let these alien invaders walk all over you. It is about using reverse psychology and being firm but affectionate. So things they will be great at: cleaning bathrooms, light yardwork like raking, pulling weeds, helping wash the car, and sometimes even laundry depending on what it is. Teach them about washing reds before you have them washing your favorite outfit you wear to work.
13 and up:
These are difficult years as they enter high school and become involved in more activities. But it is also important to teach them how to juggle somewhat busy schedules as they will have to do this when they go to college and grow up. So something like "clean the bathrooms twice a week, keep your room clean, and clear the table after every meal" is light and won't interfere with all that hard homework they are getting that even you don't understand. Oh yes, and I have a feeling you might need to update that chore chart to a more sophisticated one. I will make some more with different designs!
I hope these help. It can be tough but being constant and firm are really key in things like this. The end results are completely worth it though!
GOOD LUCK!
Jocelyn
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