At what age should kids start doing chores around the house?

Question

And what types of things should they do?
My kids are 7,6 & 4.

Answer 1

Mine are 5 and 7.. I think 5 is good.. we do a chore chart for allowance and they have been doing well...

The article I linked below says 18 months and older is a ripe age for learning household chores...

Answer 2

4

Answer 3

As soon as they start showing interest in helping. A 2 year old loves to copy what mom's doing, so I gave my son a dust cloth and let him help. At that young age, it's still mostly play, but it gives them the satisfaction of helping mom.

4 year olds can do a little more, depending on their focus. You will probably have to supervise this one a little more than the 6 or 7 year olds. What you might do is let the 4 year old help you with your task, like maybe emptying the room trash cans. You hold the bag, they empty into the bigger bag. Or let them put in new bags. Something quick that will suit the attention span.

All ages can do room cleaning and putting away toys. For my son, it's his responsibility to clean his room.

Whatever you choose, just make sure the task is age appropriate. You can even do a simple job jar or job board. For the job jar, you write out all the jobs that need to be done, then let the children pick out a paper from the jar. That becomes their job.

Answer 4

I have an 8 year old girl and a 6 year old boy. The girl does laundry (wash, dry & fold), and cleans her own room as well as helping clean the rest of the house. The boy unloads the diswasher & puts the dishes away, cleans his own room & helps clean the rest of the house.

Next Spring I will be teaching the boy to help with outside chores like picking up the lawn to prepare for mowing, raking, picking up trash that the dogs have strown.

The sooner you teach the kids that chores MUST be done, the better off you will be.

Almost forgot...they take turns feeding and watering the dogs and cat.

Answer 5

Kids can help pretty much as soon as they are walking well. Even tiny little ones can "help" do things like folding laundry or "dust" with a dry rag. (They may not be much REAL help, but they like to try!)

At their ages, your kids can probably do any of the following:

sort laundry by color
help fold their own clothes
match socks from the laundry
put their clothes away
help put away the dishes
set the table for dinner
help stir or measure ingredients for meals
help carry in and put away groceries
help clean the floor with dustpan and broom or Swiffer
dust tables and such
pick up their own toys
wipe down table after dinner
help take out small bags of trash (mine are supposed to take care of the trash under their own desks...ages 3.5 years, 5.5 years and 7.5 years)
help water plants
get the mail (if they don't have to cross the street)

Answer 6

Even the 4 year-old should have chores, such as picking up toys and clothes and putting them in the hamper. The 6 & 7 year olds are old enough to take out trash, vacuume, sweep and keep their own rooms clean. Have a chore chart for the older kids, like taking turns taking out the trash, etc so they can't say, "I did it yesterday"

Answer 7

my daughter is four and she does simple chores but her biggest chore is picking up the toys that are in the living room and putting them back into the toy box and then after that all she has to do really is just clean up after herself such as when she is coloring when she is done put the crayons and book away and she also has to empty her plate when she is done and put it on the counter and that's about it......she gets a dollar a day and she gets two days off so we give her 5 dollars and if there is a day that she refuses to do her job around the house she loses a dollar...so i think that 4 is a good age and it teaches them to be responsible for their things and to be respectful of others.....and to also teach them about money....my daughter absolutely loves that she has chores it makes her feel like a "big girl" and she likes to feel like she is doing her part to help out in the family.

Answer 8

I have four children ranging in ages from 2 to 11. They all do chores, but I didn't force my two year old to do anything. He wanted to help and would get upset if I didn't allow him to the same things as his brother and sisters. My 8 and 11 year old daughters vacuum, put dishes away, hang up their clothes, sweeps, mops, wipes mirrors, dust...My 4 and 2 year old are a little different. Right now we are teaching them to show responsibility for their things. They will put away toys, put dishes in the sink, throw away trash or if they see wrappers laying around.Both like to put away dishes and dust, but I only let them do these things with supervision.

Answer 9

As soon as a child can walk, he can throw things away for himself (tissues after you blow his nose, napkins after dinner, etc.), can toss toys in a bin, dirty clothes in the hamper, and other small tasks. By about age 2 1/2 to 3, you can expect the child to know where the toys go and to put them away in the right places. 3-year-olds also like to help by setting the table for meals, and washing off tables or counters (as long as you don't mind that it makes a bit more of a mess sometimes). By age 5, kids can usually clear the dishes to the sink after a meal, can take tied-up trash bags to the garage, use a small vacuum to do the staircases in your house, and if you have a smaller broom they can even sweep floors rather effectively.

Seven-year-olds should be helping out by doing lots of the above things in addition to making their own beds and maybe even taking the trash bins to the curb, if they're not too heavy. Kids this age can also bring dirty laundry to the laundry room and put their own clean clothes away in their dresser.

If you have always kept things in your house in a certain place, your kids will learn to expect those things to be there - and if you encourage them to do more things for themselves, they will help keep the house the way it should look and perform.

Give lots of praise for good work, especially when you don't have to tell them to do it!

Answer 10

the younger the better because they think its fun. My kids were always eager to empty the dishwasher. I would take out sharp and heavy objects and they would put everything else on the counter. Picking up toys, put clothes in hamper. Make cleaning a game. I still do and I'm fully grown. I try to get as much done as possible during a commercial.