Chore Ideas for Kids
Posted by Neena on 09/3/08 in Children of All Ages, Parenting Tips
My children are busy little people - much busier than I was at their ages. Between school, homework, and activities they have precious little time to spare. So, while I do not want to burden them down with added work, I think the responsibilities of maintaining a home offer valuable life lessons that kids need to learn.
The key is to offer up manageable tasks. A few chores that I have delegated to the kids are
- Bringing their dirty laundry to the laundry room and putting away their, clean, folded clothes.
- Setting the dinner table - everything fromĀ napkins to cups filled with milk or water.
- Clearing the table.
- Cleaning up the playroom.
- Taking out the garbage.
- Unloading the dishwasher on occasion - when they happen to have a little extra time in the morning.
The weekends are a different story because they are so unstructured. As a family, we often tackle a different area of the house or the yard as a group.
Now don’t get me wrong, this post makes us sound a bit like the Brady Bunch minus Alice. But I assure you, there is a fair amount of complaining and bickering going on - it just wouldn’t be normal any other way. “How come he gets to do that?”, “How come I have to put that away when I didn’t take it out” - and many more similar outbursts are common.
What chore ideas for kids do you have now that the school year has begun? I would love to hear them!
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Karen, author of "My Funny Dad, Harry" | Sep 8, 2008 | Reply
I recall us each have some set chores–we each made our own beds, put our own clothes away, took our own dishes to the sink when we were done but then we had some other jobs which we rotated on a weekly basis (providing we did them right). If the job wasn’t done right, we kept the same one for the following week. These included mowing and watering the grass, cleaning the bathrooms, dusting, vacuuming and washing the dishes or loading the dishwasher once we got one and wiping the kitchen appliances.
Neena | Sep 8, 2008 | Reply
Karen,
Can you imagine how organized your parents must have been to pull that off?
The problem I often have is a lack of time to figure out who should be doing what and when - and then to remember it all!
Did you get an allowance for the chores or were you expected to do the chores as part of your family obligation?
cookie | Sep 12, 2008 | Reply
i have 3 kids. they made their own beds, put their dirty clothes in the laundry basket, bring their dishes to sink after eating (they also practice this in school), clear the table. the eldest helps in vacuuming (ex. living room and his room)during weekends and the young ones had to fix their play area after playing(but most of the time i had to do). they help me bring laundry to laundry area and pick them once dry. they also help take out the garbage. i think it depends on how old the kids are.