Ages 2 and 3
Personal chores
- Assist in making their beds
- Pick up playthings with your supervision
Family chores
- Take their dirty laundry to the laundry basket
- Fill a pet’s water and food bowls (with supervision)
- Help a parent clean up spills and dirt
- Dust
Ages 4 and 5
Note: This age can be trained to use a family chore chart.
Personal chores
- Get dressed with minimal parental help
- Make their bed with minimal parental help
- Bring their things from the car to the house
- PIck up their toys
- Wash hands
Family chores
- Set the table with supervision
- Clear the table with supervision
- Help a parent prepare food
- Help a parent carry in the lighter groceries
- Sort colors for the laundry
- Match socks after clothing is washed
- Answer the phone with parental assistance
- Be responsible for a pet’s food and water bowl
- Hang up towels in the bathroom
- Clean floors with a dry mop
Ages 6 and 7
Note: This age can be supervised to use a family chore chart.
Personal chores
- Make their bed every day
- Brush teeth
- Comb hair
- Choose the day’s outfit and get dressed
- Write thank you notes with supervision
Family chores
- Be responsible for a pet’s food, water and exercise
- Vacuum individual rooms
- Wet mop individual rooms
- Fold laundry with supervision
- Put their laundry in their drawers and closets
- Put away dishes from the dishwasher
- Help prepare food with supervision
- Empty indoor trash cans
- Answer the phone with supervision
Ages 8 to 11
Note: This age benefits from using a family chore chart.
Personal chores
- Take care of personal hygiene
- Keep bedroom clean
- Be responsible for homework
- Be responsible for belongings
- Write thank you notes for gifts
- Wake up using an alarm clock
Family chores
- Wash dishes
- Wash the family car with supervision
- Prepare a few easy meals on their own
- Clean the bathroom with supervision
- Rake leaves
- Learn to use the washer and dryer
- Put all laundry away with supervision
- Take the trash can to the curb for pick up
- Test smoke alarms once a month with supervision
- Screen phone calls using caller ID and answer when appropriate
Ages 12 and 13
Personal chores
- Take care of personal hygiene, belongings and homework
- Write invitations and thank you notes
- Set their alarm clock
- Maintain personal items, such as recharging batteries
- Change bed sheets
- Keep their rooms tidy and do a biannual deep cleaning
Family chores
- Change light bulbs
- Change the vacuum bag
- Dust, vacuum, clean bathrooms and do dishes
- Clean mirrors
- Mow the lawn with supervision
- Baby sit (in most states)
- Prepare an occasional family meal
Ages 14 and 15
Personal chores
- Responsible for all personal chores for ages 12 and 13
- Responsible for library card and books
Family chores
- Do assigned housework without prompting
- Do yard work as needed
- Baby sit
- Prepare food — from making a grocery list and buying the items (with supervision) to serving a meal — occasionally
- Wash windows with supervision
Ages 16 to 18
Personal chores
- Responsible for all personal chores for ages 14 and 15
- Responsible to earn spending money
- Responsible for purchasing their own clothes
- Responsible for maintaining any car they drive (e.g., gas, oil changes, tire pressure, etc.)
Family chores
- Do housework as needed
- Do yard work as needed
- Prepare family meals — from grocery list to serving it — as needed
- Deep cleaning of household appliances, such as defrosting the freezer, as needed
Many parents start off with good intentions when it comes to chores and their children. They make “chore charts”, sit down with their children and explain how to meticulously tackle each chore step by step. It doesn’t take long to figure out that a small child isn’t going to complete the job with the same perfection and success that you are – and that’s when the chores slowly start to fall back into your lap. What parents need to understand is that the actual chores are not what is most important here; but rather the huge benefits that come from being given such responsibilities. Here are 6 fantastic benefits to giving children household chores. 1. Children Who Have Chores Are More Successful As Adults Dr. Martin Rossman from the University of Minnesota undertook a longitudinal study (subjects were followed up over a period of 20 years) which revealed that one of the best predictors of a child’s success is if he or she began helping with household chores at age 3 to 4. These children were less likely to use drugs and had better relationships, among many other significant benefits. When children are given jobs to do when they are younger, they will develop confidence in their ability to complete tasks. This goes for very young children as well, because they are the ones always begging to help out with the cooking, the cleaning or the gardening. Many parents of toddlers will be familiar with their dishwasher being hijacked by a well-meaning two or three year old wanting to help unstack it! Yet, many parents, tell young children “no, when you’re bigger”, or “you’re too little to do this!”, when actually we should be letting them try little tasks (that are safe and suitable for their age group) so our children can feel the success of doing something new on their own. Many times, it’s more convenient as parents to just do it ourselves, to save time or make sure it’s done correctly, but we are missing out on valuable opportunities to help our children gain confidence. It could be the difference between a ‘can-do’ attitude and an ‘I can’t do it’ attitude as they grow up. 2. Hands On Movement Will Help The Child With Gross And Fine Motor Skills There are so many opportunities for small children to work with their hands around the house. Helping in the kitchen by measuring ingredients or drying dishes; helping in the garden by raking dirt or pulling weeds; and even chores such as dusting or sweeping are great for gross motor skills. There are also opportunities to incorporate math or reading into chores. Tell your child to count out four potatoes, or have them dust only the items that have the letter D in them. Making it fun and helpful will keep your child engaged for a longer period of time. 3. Children Who Have Chores Learn To Work Well With Others If you have more than one child, have them work on a chore together. If not, you can have your child complete different jobs along with you. It’s great for kids to compromise and assign themselves different roles, because it teaches them to be flexible. For example, one night you could wash the dishes and your child could rinse or dry, and then you switch roles the next night. 4. Chores Will Teach Your Child About Delayed Gratification Some parents may choose to reward chores with an allowance. Others might give their child a special treat at the end of the week if all of the chores were done. Whatever the currency is for your child completing chores, it is teaching him about delayed gratification; or working towards something later on. In this world of “immediate gratification”, it’s good for kids to see that they aren’t always compensated immediately for their actions. Sometimes, the compensation for chores might be that mom has time to play a board game on Saturday. This is teaching the child that if he helps mom with the chores, he will benefit from it in the long run. 5. Chores Give Children A Purpose Helping do things around the house makes a child feel a sense of ownership; like she is an important part of the household. This shows the child that you need and appreciate her help, so she will be more apt to want to help out on her own in the future. Kids want to feel important, and what is more important than helping the household run smoothly? They will feel like they have contributed to the well-being of the family, which in turn will build confidence and self-esteem. Children who participate in chores have been shown to be happier, even if they feel like the chore is a burden at the time. 7. It Teaches Self Discipline There are many things in life that we have to do, even if we don’t feel like doing it. It’s often said that successful people are good at doing what other people don’t want to do or couldn’t be bothered doing – they have great self discipline. It’s so important to be able to ‘show up’ in areas of your life even when you don’t feel like it – this includes school, work and even relationships. Self discipline is an essential skill required to do well in many areas of life. Making Chores Work For Your Family Firstly, its a good idea not to tie pocket money (allowance money) into your children’s chores. It’s important for them to associate chores as contribution to something bigger – not an activity you’d only do for monetary gain. It’s okay to give them an allowance, but do not use it as a payment for doing their chores. You don’t want them to be motivated by money or you’ve lost the valuable lessons. When you begin a chores routine in your home, naturally there can be some resistance, especially while it’s all new. However, don’t give up! Chores are always easier when you make it fun, manageable and when you do it together. Families are all about support and togetherness – and when everyone pitches in with chores, it reinforces that message. Put on some boppy music and you’ll be surprised how much it lifts the mood in the house, especially while everyone is helping with the chores together as a family. Don’t get stuck in a mindset of ’it’s just easier and quicker if I do it,’ because you’ll lose the opportunity for your children to learn valuable, lifelong lessons and become more skilled at the tasks they have been given. Sure, the dishwasher may get loaded like an overflowing toy box, but its an opportunity to show them how to stack cups or plates in a better way. Once they realise they are responsible for doing their chores (and mum or dad aren’t going to let them off the hook!), you’d be surprised how quickly they become efficient loaders of the dishwasher. Before you know it, the children will drop right into their new routine and you wont need to nudge them along so much. – See more at: 
littleponderosachildcare 