Chores for Children

First Chores: Probably about the time our children are two they are already helping to do a few easy chores with Mama (or Daddy). They fold washclothes, pillowcases, and dishtowels. They put away silverware and plastic cups. Putting away the utensils is a self correcting task, and if they can sort a box of nuts and bolts or do a single piece puzzle, they can do the utensils. You can even call it school. They help sort laundry (color matching!). They get a cloth and get to 'help' wipe the table. They can carry things like napkins, cups, and dishes to and from the table. They can even water plants. I do this by getting a small cream pitcher, just the right size to hold enough water for one plant, and teach them to fill it up one time and pour it into one plant. If you have plants in several rooms you can teach them that the living room plants are watered on Mondays, the bedroom plants on Tuesday, etc. They can dry dishes (cups work especially well). They help carry things in from the car, including groceries. I will take something out of a larger bag just to give the littles something to do. They can dust a window sill.

They can help you do just about anything at this age. Yes, everything will take a little longer, but it will be worth it later.

First Independent Chores: Once you've trained them to do the small things well and independently, you can let them do these things regularly- watering plants, folding all the towels and washclothes, setting the table and clearing it, wiping the table. It's helpful to make sure your cleaning supplies are safe for children (that's why I like to make a lot of my own cleaners) and things are set up so that they make sense.

They can feed pets, especially if you give them a specific container and tell them exactly how full it should be.

They can wipe out sinks (I think I was about five or six when scouring the sink first became my job and I loved it).

They can dust- not a whole room yet, but certainly you can assign a specific piece of two of furniture, an end table or rocking chair, and teach them to do the job thoroughly.

They can make beds and switch out laundry when it's done- carrying a basket of clean clothes into the living room to be folded, carrying baskets of folded clothes to the rooms where they belong. They can hang clothes on hangers and fold quite a few things.

The main thing is supervision and apprenticeship. First they do the chore with you and you explain what you are doing and why. Then you watch over them the first few times they try a chore alone, checking to make sure they follow the steps you expect to be followed. Then check on their work periodically. If you are watching you can see when you've assigned a task too hard or too easy for some reason. A shorter child will take longer to be able to manage the vacuum cleaner than a tall child, or you may realize your child is color blind when you ask him to sort laundry, or you may find that your child with ADD tendencies needs a short, specific list of things to do rather than a general 'clean the kitchen.'

These are generalities, not the final word in chores for the children in your family. In general, our oldest two were able to do just about everything by the time they were 12- including meals. The middle two were a bit older when they learned meal preparation, and the youngest two are not where any of their older siblings were at the same age because I slacked off badly. The Cherub, of course, is a category all her own. But if you include your children in your chores and explain what you are doing, by the time they are 10 or 11 they should be capable of doing just about any regular household chore except some of the kitchen tasks.

I wrote this when the youngest two were 8 and 10, and now they are ten and thirteen. They both can make a few things in the kitchen, and both can and do clean the kitchen after a meal. Of course, they may not put things away where I want them put. Both can clean the refrigerator, too. The 10 year old boy mows the lawn with the push mower, and he LOVES it. I didn't want him to do this chore, thinking it too much for him, but he begged and pleaded, and the HM agreed. He wears his sturdiest boots and does quite a good job, and he's very proud to be doing such hard work.

Crystal, at the Homemaking Homestead, explains how they do chores, and how they would deal with complaining. We're finding that an issue with one of ours right now, again, our fault. We slacked off, and then she had a droll way with her complaints that made us laugh too often and too long before we realized she'd developed a habit. Currently we are handling that by requiring three positive things to be grateful about for each complaint.

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