Age Appropriate Chores
Kids always like to feel as though they are helping out around the house. It can even be rewarding to some teens – though you may never hear them say that.
When devising your chore charts for your own family, consider your child’s age and abilities. Expect to have to remind them constantly and for them to make mistakes at first – as they get older they’ll need less supervision and fewer reminders. Don’t be tempted to step in and take over even if it is taking much longer than you anticipated.
Toddlers and pre-schoolers
- Making beds Get your toddler to help pull up the covers; your preschooler can probably make her bed by herself.
- Picking up toys It helps if they have one large toy box to throw them into.
- Dusting Young children love doing this, especially if they get to use a proper ‘tool’ such as a duster! As a precaution, keep the furniture polish out of the equation if your kids are helping.
- Carrying laundry to the washer Get your child his own small laundry basket and train him to throw his dirty clothes in there at bedtime… thereby avoiding him picking up the traditional teen habit of leaving his socks to rot under the bed!
- Fetching the mail or the newspaper. Restrict this chore to sensible preschoolers and keep a close eye on your child if he has to cross the road to get to the mailbox.
Tweens…Kids aged 6-12
Children this age can continue helping the chores listed above in addition they might be able to help with the following chores:
- Washing the car Although you should mix up any detergent yourself
- Vacuuming or sweeping any hard floors. Older kids can mop, but supervise if there are any younger siblings who could slip if your tween doesn’t wring out the mop sufficiently.
- Walking the dog or generally helping to take care of pets, including brushing them and giving them food and water.
- Preparing after-school snacks such as a drink of milk and a bowl of crisps or some fruit.
- Setting the table and fixing drinks for themselves and younger siblings.
- Helping in the yard by weeding, raking leaves and watering plants.
Teens…
Teenagers can continue doing all the chores listed above in addition to::
- Washing windows A mix of vinegar in water rubbed on and buffed off with rolled-up newspaper does an amazing job.
- Doing the laundry They should be able to load up the washer, add detergent and start a wash cycle. And proceed on right through the drying.
- Taking out the trash and any recycling boxes that need emptied.
- Mowing the lawn with a push mower until you’re sure they can handle a riding mower.
- Cooking a simple meal such spaghetti or tacos.
Tags: chore charts, age appropriate chores, assigning chores, parenting, teens, toddlers, tweens
Hello….I love your site. I would love to part of your excellent resources!
I’m still working on picking up the toys. Everything else would be almost impossible.
I used to agree with the above guidelines but for the last 10 years I have been taking teenage international students into my home. I am so surprised at what many of these teens can do compared to NAmerican kids. They wash & IRON their clothes (age 12)! Some can cook incredible complicated tasty meals. They read maps and and bus timetables get on buses all over the city by themselves. They arrange activities on their own- they go to a travel agent and buy a 2-4 week package – such as going half way across Canada to see Niagara Falls, Toronto, Ottawa & Montreal. Some go to the US for a weekend or go to one of BC’s resorts for a weekend. These are remarkable things they are doing on their own. My children weren’t allowed to go downtown on their own until age 16!. But they did contribute to the household chores and were very helpful. But now I think we protect our kids too much in North America and we don’t prepare them enough for the day when they might need to be independent. One parent of a particularly adept 12 year old said she raised all her children with the focus that at as early an age as possible they should learn enough skills to feed themselves, find their way if lost and have confidence to take care of themselves just in the event she wasn’t around to help. She said one never knows how long we are on this planet and preparing your child for that event is the responsibility of parents and the kind thing to do. The other day I was watching in horror the family on “Honey, We’re killing our kids” and saw the mother brushing the teeth of a 10 year old and telling her husband to go sleep somewhere else because her 10 year old was having a bad time separating from her and needed to sleep with her. How distorted and crippling of her. When he’s 18 is he still going to displace her husband?
Some parents don’t seem to realize how important life skills are, my son’s friend, Andy, moved in with us last year and I was blown away at the lack of life skills this HS junior had. As my sons Den Leader in Cub Scouts I worked with all “my” boys teaching them how to shop, cook, CPR, and many other important life skills, and I am always surprised when I hear parents make excuses why their child “needs” to be totally taken care of. Parents don’t seem to understand that by teaching kids to become self sufficient they are not only preparing them for the future but instilling a sense of pride and accomplishment that so many of our teens lack today. Yes it may be easier to just do it yourself, or you may like to cater to the needs of your family however teaching kids to cook, clean, shop etc… is a true need for both boys and girls. Andy has been with us almost a year now and by learning these life skills his self esteem has risen and he has thanked us many times for caring enough not just to let him stay with us but to learn things he didn’t think he could do for himself.
Perhaps in an ideal world this could happen. Not in my lifetime as a single mom of 6… I have to pay my kids, bribe them or buy chocolate for them to help wash dishes or fold the laundry! At age 20 my daughter still is unable (or unwilling?) to make her own lunch for work…lol
But the theory is good, would be great if we could instil these essential lifeskills into our kids… My folks did it to us back in the day, which is probably why I know how to mother, nurture, sew, cook, clean, budget, run a household, homeschool and work from my office at home… all (mostly) with a smile on my face
)
Blessings
I am a huge fan of chores. With 4 kids I just can’t do everything by myself. Good advice!
I love your site, I am 13 and I am doing a science project, its a survey about chores for kids of different ages! This really helped, but I need the citation information!
If you could get that posted on the site or email it to me that would be awesome! Thank you for all of the help from your website Nanny Jo Jo, hee hee Im also a fan of your work and the show!
Danielle, I’m glad the list helped. I’m not exactly sure what you need when you say you need the citation information though.
I would love to see a special needs one on this…sometimes even age appropriate chores are too hard for kids with special needs. Great ideas for kids though!
oh, I mean the information about who like wrote the artical. If you have it that whould really help me!
Hello,
I am Jared Earl, I am 14 and and live on a small farm in western WA,
On sat. I work a full 12 hours.
I biuld fences and tend to the farm.
when i turned 13 it started ernin my keep.
we come from a long line of farmers from NV,
I am thankfull!