Household Jobs
An important part of every child’s education is learning how to do jobs around the home. Not only does this help the household run smoothly, it teaches children useful life skills and allows them to contribute to the family. It trains them to be disciplined, persistent and hopefully efficient!
Some children take a lot more training than others, and certain jobs tend to suit different personalities. However we believe it’s important for all our children to learn pretty much every job around the house.
Job Rotations
We recently updated our jobs list and it will no doubt undergo further adjustments as necessary, but for now we have the oldest two (aged 13 and 11) on a rotation as follows:
| Rotation A | Rotation B | |
| Morning | Put Clothes Wash On | Set Table Prep breakfast |
| After Breakfast | Tidy a kitchen cupboard Supervise dishwasher loading Wipe kitchen benches | Supervise sweeping + help Hang up washing |
| Lunch/ Day | Tidy a kitchen cupboard Supervise dishwasher loading Wipe kitchen benches | Set Table Prep lunch Supervise sweeping + help |
| Evening | Rinse dishes + stack dishwasher + handwash Wipe kitchen benches | Sweep kitchen + dining Rubbish + recycling Vacuum 1-2 bedrooms |
The next two (aged 9 and 7) are on this rotation:
| Rotation C | Rotation D | |
| Morning | Window Vacuuming (winter) Open windows | Empty Dishwasher |
| After Breakfast | Rinse dishes + stack dishwasher Hang up washing | Clear + wipe table |
| Lunch/ Day | Set Table, Prep lunch Rinse dishes + stack dishwasher + handwash | Clear + wipe table Dry dishes |
| Evening | Empty toilet rolls Floor marks Dry dishes | Clear + wipe table Quick clean bathrooms + Toilets (Guest + kids only) |
Our 4 year old is just on sweeping at every meal time.
Other Jobs
In addition they have individual and shared daily tasks such as making their beds, looking after their pets, folding up washing and tidying around the house.
On Saturday there are set jobs they have to complete in the morning before they can play, eg. sweeping outside leaves, vacuuming, cleaning bathrooms, mopping and dusting.
This all sounds like a lot, but divided between the four eldest children it really doesn’t take them that long.
Worth It
It’s not always easy getting the kids to do their jobs, but with firm expectations most of the jobs get done most of the time.. to an ok standard. Part of our job as parents is to train our children up to be competent human beings, and household chores certainly contribute towards that. It’s all part of their education!
