Chores are an essential part of running a household. There are stages of a child's life where she may see her parents carrying out cleaning tasks and want to help or mimic the behaviors. Over time a child may no longer find chores to be fun. To encourage your child's continued cooperation, it is important to establish family expectations. John Covey, director of home and family for Franklin Covey Company, suggests parents establish a solid one-on-one relationship with children. This will pave the way for your child's embracing your values, such as cleanliness and responsibility. Creating age-appropriate chores can build skills and promote orderliness.
Young Child Chores
Chores can begin when a child is as young as nine months. FamilyROI.org, a nonprofit organization that runs programs that apply business practices to household management, suggests several ideas under two years old. It encourages parents to allow their children to help out even if it may be more time consuming or messy, as it creates a foundation for children to continue contributing to the household. Examples of simple chores for children include cleaning a table or other surfaces with a towel and spray bottle, cleaning up the yard of trash and toys, using child-sized brooms or following basic requests like bringing a diaper or putting something in the trash. Kids this age may enjoy putting groceries away or taking them out of the bag and handing them to you to put away. Picking up toys at the end of the day or putting dirty clothes into the hamper are other suggestions from FamilyROI.org.
Chores for Two-Year-Olds
Your two-year-old may enjoy carrying a light grocery bag to the car, taking dishes from the table, picking up living spaces and dusting with socks on his hand. At this age kids can join in any tasks parents are doing. This includes bed-making, sorting laundry, putting things back where they belong and delivering items to the appropriate room.
Chores for Three-Year-Olds
By this age, three-year-olds can be trusted to do some tasks on their own, even without prompting. FamilyROI.org suggests setting the table, helping with food preparation, picking up the mail, getting dressed with minimal help, washing hands and face, keeping their room clean and other simple household chores like emptying bathroom trash cans.
Chores for Four-Year-Olds
Toddlers may seem like a little adults at this age. They can do so much more and do it well. They can be given a chore list for the week. Ideas consist of dusting furniture, feeding pets at a specific time each day, folding and putting laundry away, helping with grocery shopping, vacuuming or sweeping.
Chores for Five-Year-Olds
Children at age five can get dressed and undressed independently. Raking or outdoor cleaning tasks can be fun for your child and you. Five-year-olds can be a great help in the kitchen if given safe tasks to complete. A toddler can learn to prepare simple meals for herself or get the needed ingredients for recipes. At this age kids learn to tie their shoes, make their own beds, pour their own drinks and prepare their own sandwiches.
Six Years and Up
By this age six, children can be taught to do just about any chore. Based on the strength and skills of your child, you can give them appropriate chores. Many can help with things like shoveling snow, pulling weeds, brushing and walking the dog. As children age, they can be given more tasks in a day or week and can be expected to do them without reminder or assistance. As long as the tools needed to carry out the task are safe for a child's age, they can be left to do just about any chore a parent wants to assign.
