Age Appropriate Chores?

I agree with (and learned from, too) everything on this list. I only have one chore to add that my 4 yr old does, and it's easy but necessary - straighten up the shoes and boots in the porch. Great sorting skills, and with 5 of us each having a couple of pairs, it makes a big difference!

Just from my own experience, I know that it was very exciting for me to make my own lunches to take to school when I was in Kindergarten. My mom put the lunch meat and cheese on a lower shelf of the fridge and the bread where I could reach it. I put the meat and cheese between two slices of bread and put the sandwich in a baggie. Then I grabbed some prepacked chips and put them in the paper bag with the sandwich. Very simple, but it made me feel like a "big kid".

We have 3 new additions to our home. The oldest is 5 and she attends preschool. She came home one day and said her homework is to do a chore and she wants to clear the table. We have her scrape the plates and put the dishes (except knives) in the sink, plus she puts condoments away. We clear the rest and then let her count 8 squirts of cleaner on to the table and she wipes it off. She loves her chore. She asks us if she can dust a lot too, I let her dust my collectibles on the bottom of my curio sometimes and she earns an extra sticker for extra work Her and our 2 yr old both clean thier rooms. Hers is more organized, his has 2 big toy tubs he is responsible for filling each night. Our 2 yr old has also started clearing off his own place setting recently. If you aren't sure what chores to assign them, maybe ask them, they may like certain chores, and when they like doing them you'll find they remind you a chore needs done. :) Carrie

I agree with all the posts above. The only few I have to add are, bringing dirty laundry to the laundry room, and stripping their beds and putting fresh sheets on. (this depends on age of course.) Besides picking up her toys, our 2 yo's job at supper time is to put salad dressings on the table and put them away when were finished. Of course she has to do this everynight whether we have salad or not. (her rule not mine)She does clear her own plate, all my children started this about 2. The quickest way to turn a child off helping out is to go behind them and re-do what they've done. I'm a firm believer in if they've done it, don't re-do it. It may not be done the EXACT way you would do it, but with practice it will get better. We also have what we call "hard labor". when they've been especially naughty we implement this. (rather than take away privelages, depends on transgressions.) Hard labor consists of washing walls/windows, etc... or the most dreaded chore of all, poop scooping the backyard. We have a 90 lb yellow lab, well you get the idea. This a usually a rotating job, but when they've earned hard labor, it is their's for how ever long the punishment is. On the flip side, they can do some of these "hard labor" chores to earn extra income. Shelley

Hi everyone.. Thought Id share some of mine.. I have 6 boys aging 3-13 and they each have chored. some daily and weekly. We dont "reward" them for their chores, they are expected to get done on a daily basis. Having a large family and also homeschooling- if we dont have a routine or include them in it, I think id have a ton of gray hair!lol anyhow.. this is our breakdown from Oldest to youngest and age appr group that has worked for us. Vacuming 9+ Mowing LAwn 10+ Poop Scoop 7+ Feeding Pets 4+ Clearing table 5+ Setting table 4+ Loading dishwasher 7+ Unloading Dishwasher 5+ Taking out garbage 7+ Folding Laundry 9+ Putting Laundry Away 6+ Making beds in morning 5+ Sorting Socks 5+ Matching SHOES! 3+ Wiping Bathroom sink eachday 6+ Picking up toys/tidying- everyone Doing laundry 12+ Sweeping 10+ Prepare lunch 10+ Help prepaer dinner 10+ They all have their share of things they do.. they rotate monthly or they do buddy jobs.. The older ones "buddy" up with a younger one or with me if the task is to difficult to complete for their age alone.. There are several places off the net that you can print off room charts and adopt a system that works for your family. Hope this helped.. Yvonne

We have a four year old and a six year old. Everyone clears the table, and helps out when asked, but we don't have set chores. I have found that the kids are more happy to help if it is not something that they do everyday. When i am sorting laundry, they take piles to the bathroom closet, and correct bedrooms. Sometimes they feed the dogs. They always take coats up to their rooms, keep bedrooms straightened, put laundry away each night, and shoes in correct places. I have a bin for each child by the stairs. Once a week, then need to go through their bin and put stuff away. It is always items that go up to their room to be put away. fdaughter takes her wet pull-up out to the trash if it is wet. This was actually the doctors recommendation. She is 6, and it teaches her that it is not okay to go potty in bed without punishing her for the act. Well look at that, we have chores after all. Here I thought my family was slacking! :D :D :D Jill

I have a son who wet the bed until he was 12. Bedwetting is not something children can control, sometimes it's as simple as an immature bladder, other times can be more serious. Our son was required to bring down wet sheets, and make his bed, (starting at about age 9) only because he refused to wear a pull-up. Punishing children or making them feel ashamed doesn't accomplish anything. The urologist we spoke to, actually he spoke more with my son than me, he really wanted him to know that he had nothing to be ashamed of, He did make a point of telling Ds if he refused to wear a pull-up, then he needed to take responsibility for getting his wet things cleaned. He did prescribe meds for him, after making sure this was something Ds wanted to do. They worked most of the time, but there were still occassional accidents. Shelley

Sounds like what I was talking about, Shelley. She is not being punished at all, but she is realizing that she needs to take ownership in helping to clean up afterwards. I assure you, she does not think taking her pull-up to the garbage is punishment. Looking back, I worded that sentence wrong. We are not punishing her for her actions, but she is still learning that wetting the bed is not okay. Completely doing what our ped. wants us to do. Did the meds help your son? We are far from that, as she is only 6. Jill

6boys, great list! I just wanted to add that if your children have any kind of sensory issues you may need to get a little creative to come up with "theraputic chores"! My almost 3 yr old daughter has FASD and significant sensory issues (she will slam doors, jump on beds, throw things, etc... if we do not address her sensory needs) and I have found that lifting and pushing things help her to feel more centered (much like her weighted vest and blanket help her.) She recently had a pretty tough day and I asked her to help me move heavy books from one bookcase to another -obviously something that did not NEED to be done- and it really calmed her down! Some other things that seem to help her- shaking rugs outside, shoveling snow (she has her own little shovel!), and moving chairs so that I can vacuum or mop the floors. Just a thought- people with FASD probably functioned much better when our society was more about physical labor than desk jobs.

Shelley -- our hard labor is pulling weeds. I got that from a friend that used to work in a youth group home. We also use scrubbing the tub with a scrub brush instead of cleaning spray. I'll have to remember the walls and we have double windows too, so that will go on the list. It's too cold and wet at the moment for weeds, so thanks for the tip!

I hadn't thought of pulling weeds, they do cut the grass, but a little weed pulling might be in order sometime. Thank you Shelley

Hey Jill, thought I'd replied to this, guess I didn't. Yes the meds did help most of the time. He did have an occassional accident. It was DDAVP, comes in liquid, tablet and nasal spray. He used tablets and nasal spray, the spray seemed to work best. Bed wetting can be caused from lots of stuff, one of those things is heredity. I didn't know that until after we had been to the urologist, apparently my dad wet the bed until he was 12-13. Best of luck to you and your family. Shelley

I've only had 7 yr olds, the chores they've done have been collecting eggs (of course you need to have a hen house for that one), sweeping, mopping with the Swifter mop, dusting, spraying glass cleaner on the mirrors and wiping them with a paper towel, and helping put laundry away (after they made labels for their dresser drawers that listed what goes in each drawer). One child was very good at moving wheelbarrow loads of snow from place to place, but that wasn't really of any use at all, if he'd stayed longer maybe he'd have switched to horse manure, which would have been very helpful. One child could cook (with supervision) and serve supper (mac and cheese), and clean the bathroom very well, but after the 'honeymoon' period, she somehow forgot how to do those things! ha!

My 7 year old foster to adopt son is responsible for setting the table, feeding and watering his pet rabbit, keeping his room tidy, and making the bed. He also is supposed to pick up the things that are his that are lying around the house and put them where they belong before bedtime. In addition, I make him help me if he's responsible for the mess (If I've already cleaned the bathroom for the week and he pees on the seat, he has to help clean that up.) I've also made him clean up the bathroom counter because he somehow kept missing the sink when he spat out his mouthwash. after 3 days of cleaning his own bathroom counter, somehow his aim greatly improved ;)

We just got a 7 year old little boy (all of our kids so far had been under 2, so I was knew at this). I got a big piece of poster board, markers and some stickers and we both sat down together to discuss "Chores". He came up with several that I hadn't even thought of. After our list was done this was what we had... 1) Take Bath/wash hair 2) brush teeth 3) take dishes to sink 4) make bed 5) clean room 6) feed/water cat 7 Do homework 8) get ready for school 9) listen 10) use manners We wrote these all down and drew squares that were to be filled in with stickers. Then at the bottom we chose privelages (We chose to reward privelages instead of prizes ). He chose swimming, picnic, choosing dinner for a night, etc. Those were to be won when one entire line was filled up. He also got 30 minutes of extra tv/video time if he had 20 stickers, He LOVES putting the stickers on, counting the stickers and looking forward to his privelages. Now, this was only our first chore board- so next time I plan on altering it and adding a few other ones. I wanted to keep it simple the first time to see if it worked (which it has). This chore board is more daily things to do...sometimes when they are young they need to be reminded to do simple things like listen and brush their teeth...and by having a big board hanging up in their room to remind them it helps a lot, and motivates them. Next time we are going to add some extra chores, ones that don't need to be done every day, but still can earn them stickers. He also wasn't listening the other day...and after going back and forth with him trying to get him to listen we finally decided that we could take away stickers as well for not listening, this wasn't something he wanted to do...so that works as well. As far as additional- not everyday chores that we will probably add will be - putting away clothes - feeding dogs - rinsing dishes - helping to put away dishes - help sort laundry - help dust Anyways, not sure if this helps or not, each child is different. This one hadn't actually been held accountable for responsibilities so he happens to love being given them as well as being able to show that he did what he was supposed to do (by looking at the stickers). Good Luck !