Chores
Chores are essential for teaching kids discipline and diligence. If you want your kids to grow up to be useful members of families and society, give them jobs. They are a core part of a child’s training and education. If you are homeschooling your children, you have the benefit of time! Fewer hours in the day are necessary for their academic education, which not only means extra free time, but also time for training in life skills!
It’s not easy to train children in this area, because it requires discipline, plus tedious monitoring and follow up. For almost every job it would most likely be faster and easier to just do it yourself, and the standard of work would probably be higher too. But this is something we as parents (especially mums) have to overcome, for the sake of our children’s characters. Think of the final goal or product you are aiming for! And picture the increased usefulness of your kids as they become more competent!
When it comes to chores there are some important points to keep in mind:
- Start as young as possible (2-3 years is ideal), so they learn and accept that chores are a part of family life. Just as being in your family has its privileges, so it also has its responsibilities. If your kids are already older than this, start as soon as possible!
- Set specific jobs that individual kids are responsible for, and give them a time-frame where possible (e. g. after breakfast).
- Be consistent with expectations, so your kids know what they’re aiming for.
- Follow up to check whether a job has been done properly and give consequences for not doing the job, or for a half-hearted attempt. E.g. perhaps require a repeat of the job till it is done properly. This is hard and requires real commitment on your part!
- As your children become competent at a job, move them on to something harder so their younger siblings can ‘graduate’ to that job. Unfortunately, this means some chores will always be done by the least competent person, but the older need to make way for the younger to learn!
- Play to your kids’ strengths and preferences – e.g. if one really seems to prefer vacuuming, let them do it the majority of the time BUT don’t allow the other kids to avoid it altogether!
- Don’t be tempted to do your child’s job for them! (Unless they’re sick or there is a good reason) Being a martyr won’t help them learn responsibility.
Currently, we have certain daily jobs our children are responsible for, plus some Saturday jobs, plus the odd extra chore. We display a list with their jobs somewhere they can easily check it – if they can’t read, use pictures! While we had our house on the market I blu-tacked it inside the pantry door.
Here are the chores we have our kids do at this point in time:
| Daily Chores | Saturday Chores | |
| Grace (10) | Make bed Tidy up when asked Fold up kids’ clothes Put away own clothes Clear & wipe the table after every meal Rinse & stack dishwasher (breakfast & lunch) Dry dishes and empty dishwasher – when needed Kids’ bathroom wipe – evening Kids’ bathroom toilet clean with brush – evening Tidy desk – end of day | Dust shelves in lounge and Dad’s office Clear and dust Dad’s desk and printer table Dust shelves in kids’ rooms Take sheets off 1 child’s bed and put in washing machine Proper toilet clean – kids’ bathroom Mop kitchen |
| Alex (8) | Make bed Tidy up when asked Fold up kids’ clothes Put away own clothes Set table (every meal) Tidy all bookshelves Empty kitchen and bathroom bins Rubbish day- put bins out Shed tidy (end of day) Tidy desk | Sweep patio area Sweep backdoor area Sweep and de-cobweb front door Sweep shed Sweep between shed and house Clean out car Clean guinea pig cage |
| Jess (6) | Make bed Tidy up when asked Fold up kids’ clothes Put away own clothes Hang up kids’ clothes to dry Sweep kitchen dining area Sweep bathroom Dust vac stairs or lounge Wipe floor marks in kitchen & dining room Assist Grace with dishwasher empty | Pick up cabbage tree leaves Dusting downstairs skirting boards Sweep stones into stone areas at front |
| Sophia (3 1/2) | Make bed Tidy up when asked Fold up easy items e.g. cloths Put away own clothes Hang up kids’ clothes to dry Sweep kitchen dining area | Pick up cabbage tree leaves Disinfect door handles |
If we have visitors coming over, or are preparing for a special event (like selling the house!) there will often be extra jobs such as vacuuming, preparation of food and window cleaning.
A Google search of ‘chores for kids’ will bring up a plethora of lists and age-appropriate suggestions.
