With a bigger house, comes more to clean. With more kids, come more laundry, dirty dishes and nasty toilets. Just a couple of years ago we lived in a small three bedroom townhouse. Our youngest shared a room with my husband and I and while that seemed fine at the time, we knew that when we moved to the town we are in now that we would have to find a bigger house. And while I love the house we are in, I don’t love all there is to do to keep it kept.
And so, I have most recently enlisted my children 12 years, 7 years and 4 year old to help out with chores.
Personally I am not a fan of cleaning toilets and I was a tad curious as to if having my children do a little scrub-a-dub on the porcelain throne would be too much for child labor. According to this trusty little chart (see above), having my 12 year old do this is well…acceptable. So far I have some pretty good sock matchers, laundry folders and put-away-ers and dishwasher loaders.
What chores do you have your little ones help out with home, if any? What age do you think is appropriate for kids to help out at home?
This is a great list! My son is two and his chore is to open the chicken coop and collect the eggs in the morning. He also helps with the dishes, picks up his toys, helps with laundry, loves to wash the cabinets off, and wash windows, and whatever else I’m doing. I’m grateful I have a child who loves to Help his mama! Hopefully it stays that way!
I love this post! It is important to start kids having chores young so they can develop these helping skills. Even if it is something as simple as sweeping the floor, it’s good to instill these responsible actions in kids young.
This is such a great list!! It is always so hard to know what you should be dong and guidelines like this are a big help.
Isn’t that why we have kids, to help with the chores? LOL just kidding. I do love this chore list though and I plan to teach my kids responsibility at very young ages. I want them to leave the house as well rounded adults that know how to wash dishes, cook, and do their own laundry 🙂
I will be printing this out. I have been thinking about showing my daughter chores.
My 9 year old helps a lot around the house, but he doesn’t hang the laundry out as he can’t reach the washing line yet!
That is a great list – thanks for sharing it. I am all for putting them to work while they are young, so they can learn early in life.
I love this list. I did see one of these on the Montessori webpage, too. I am not sure if I want my 2 yo to unload the dishwasher, yet. But, I like the idea of having her take her laundry in hamper.
Great idea to give age appropriate chores. That way the little ones still feel like they are helping out.
Great ideas! I think it is so important for my boys to help out around the house.
I think any age is appropriate for a child to help out. Respectfully I don’t view some of what you’ve listed as a chore as a chore. Putting your laundry in a laundry basket is not a chore here, it is a responsibility and expected, there is no reward for it.
My 5 year old cannot load the dishwasher. We tried the other day and she can not reach in lol But all of my kids do age appropriate chores (Kim)
My 5 yr old helps clean windows, feed and water the dogs, pull weeds, a lot of the things that are listed in the chart. She would love it if I let her clean the toilet, but with the chemicals I dont let her touch it.. Maybe we’ll get some gloves and let her have at it!
This guideline is awesome! My son is 10 months old and he enjoys unloading the dishwasher making room so he can sit on it. Lol
Son is in charge of trash and his room at all times plus help keep the litter box clean.
Great chart! It’s great to have age-appropriate chores for your kids. My daughter always vacuumed.
What a great list!! I included my children in all I did as a housewife and let them do what they wanted and as much as they wanted. It worked out well for us but I do wish I had been able to structure things a bit more. This list would have been helpful.
I don’t have children so the list is a little beyond me, I remember loving matching socks as a kid though lol x
This is a very well thought out list. I like the guidelines and ideas being by age.
Need to post this for my husband…I am sure he can handle those that are appropriate for pre-school.
Nice list. Growing up, all of us kids had our chores. It made running a busy house smoother.
I love this list. It’s great to start teaching kids responsibility from an early age 🙂
I need to get my kids to do more chores. But making them do their chores feels like another chore for me.
My son is at the age to help with chores. This chart will really help me figure out which chores I should start giving him.
From looking at this, my son has had way too easy! Now that he is 6 we have lots of catching up to do! Teaching him to save too so this is a great way for him to earn his “keep” lol Thanks for sharing that list!
This is great. I think they should start early and learn responsibility and accountability
There’s more ideas for chores than I thought. This is a terrific list of options!
That’s a fantastic list. So awesome that you have ideas for the wee ones, too!
I don’t think my boys do enough chores when I hear about how many chores their friends and classmates have to do.
We have ours help with different things in the house. This is a great list.
My kids always have chores but it helps them in many ways. They feel somewhat self sufficient and able to multitask.