What chores do your children do?

I have a very organized friend who helped me in this area. I knew my children should be doing chores but could never figure out how to make it work with all three of them and would just end up doing it all myself mostly. When my friend found out that I usually cleaned up the kitchen alone and my girls ran off to play she was bold enough to tell me what she thought of that and give me some advice. 🙂 Praise God for good honest friends.

Anyway, here is basically what we do. After breakfast (which I usually cook but since helping me clean more my girls are wanting to help in other areas too and so they occasionally help me cook) the girls unload the dishwasher. One does the silverware basket, and one hands items to another who is standing on a chair and puts things away. They rotate these jobs each week. When the dishwasher is done my youngest cleans the table, my middle daughter sweeps and my oldest refills the dishwasher.

Then they go get dressed, make beds and pick up their room. If there is laundry from the day before they fold that and put it away. Then we start school.

Right now other things just happen as needed – anytime the laundry is done they all help with that. What I’ve found is that just this little bit of a morning routine has spilled over into other areas for my girls, especially my oldest. She has begun to make herself a morning routine every night and will do different things like dust or clean their bathroom. She’s also taken it upon herself to mop the floors on Friday. My other girls will occasionally ask to clean the bathroom for me.

I’ve had to learn that it’s okay to stand by and watch and supervise – we often do work together – now when they clean the kitchen I will start laundry or clean up something else. But at first I had to train them in these jobs. I felt bad standing by and watching while they worked and my friend said “Rene’, there’s a reason why supervisors get paid more.” LOL

Attitude goes a long way toward making this work pleasantly long term. I make sure my demeanor is joyful and make comments about how pleasant it is to have a nice house, how happy Daddy will be when he comes home, and how we are to do everything in live as if we are doing it for our Lord. I also make sure to thank the girls and tell them what a blessing and a help they are to me.

I do hope in the future to get more organized with household maintenance even more, but this is working for now.

I have 5 boys so for us things are a bit different. We have what I call dialy chores and they are assigned to them. They also have individual chores that are on a chart and they go to it each morning and read what they are to do.

Daily tasks are not by age for us they are given and every 3 months they switch no matter how old. The difference is the expectation on my part. I don’t expect the 5 yr old to rinse the dishes and put in the dishwasher by self. But I do expect the 10 year old to do it.

Daily chores:

empty dishwasher

fill dishwasher

wash table (after all meals)

feed dog

empty trash

make breakfast

make lunch

vacuum floor (under table after dinner)

Individual chores : more age related : and once a week

shake rugs out

wipe all door knobs and lightswitches

clean bedrooms (this is not tiding)

clean bathrooms (also not tiding fully clean)

sort laundry (though I do the actual laundry)

put laundry away

wash windows

wash doors

trash to road or just container

vacuum

clean specific things like toys buckets, book shelves, toy shelves,etc

clean truck out

clean shoe areas

Anyway.. that’s getting long. That’s the type of things my boys do. For me my job is to be sure they are doing them and to there age abiblity. That the baby is good and helping the 2 yr old learn to do things.

Hope that helps

Misty