Kids and Chores

Many of my friends complain about how lazy and spoiled their kids are. Mine are somewhat too, but they do have chores they are responsible for.
What do your kids do? How old where they when they started? Do you pay them?

Mine do their own laundry (daughter started at 13 and son at 11). Son does trash and dog poop. Daughter sweeps and mops when I ask her to. I don't pay my daughter because she requires so much of my time and money for her sport, but my son gets $20 a week.

Tags: chores, kids

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Permalink Reply by rondata on September 22, 2008 at 7:42am: My 11 year old does all the laundry for the entire house :) It's only about 3 loads a week and he can do it all in one day or break it up. It started a few years ago when I broke my foot :D and he's continued doing it ever since.

He also helps pick up toys, straighten the living room and helps with his brother.. I transfer 25 dollars a month into his savings account, but if he does more than just laundry I give him extra per job he does.

We tried chore charts etc. Didn't work for us. Having 6th grader do daily chores did not work for us either. He'd end up getting half done, or done messy so he'd have time to get to his homework or what not. This works for us :D

He's gonna start working when he's 14 years old too and he knows it! He goes to a summer camp run by the city right now. When he's 14 he can't attend anymore because of age, but he can be a volunteer camp counselor and then a paid one at 15. He knows even now, that he's not spending the entire summer in front of the xbox just cause he's then old enough to stay home.. uh uh! heheh

Rhonda; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Barbara on September 22, 2008 at 8:18am: It's hard for me to make a suggestion cuz I only have two kids. I can't imagine how busy you must be. I don't know how old your other 4 are, but one piece of advice I tell all my friends with young kids is that any problems (such as not listening, spoiled) when they are little will typically get worse as the turn into teens. So at all cost, be consistent when they are little. If you tell them you are going to punish them if they don't do a chore, then it is really important for long term that you follow through.

Like I said...this was easier to do with two. All the best and good luck to you!

KristinsFourKids said:
I have 4 kids, but two are under two. My older two each have a short chore list, but NOTHING ever gets done. I remind them. They don't do it. It's so frustrating. We're a family of 6 and taking care of 2 year old twins is busy enough without having to do ALL the work. Any suggestions?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Barbara Siragusa on September 22, 2008 at 9:42am: I don't have certain chores set up for my 9 and 10 year old, but we do ask them to do things like put dishes away, take out the trash, clean up their room etc. So far they listen, but I guess I should wait till the teenage years to answer again!!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Handem on September 22, 2008 at 1:19pm: I am so proud of you all! I have tried giving my daughter (age 5) a star for every morning she made her bed. She was allowed to buy something in return for 5 consistent stars (weekdays). She received her payoff (a folder with worksheets for preschoolers) right away, to motivate her for the next week. But she quit making her bed after the second day of the second week. So I switched to another chart: a sticker for every exceptional kind gesture... 10 stickers would lead to a little present (I am not a fan of money)... She lost her chart with 3 stickers and never bothered to find it.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jamie Zdzdiarski on September 22, 2008 at 1:53pm: Mine are responsible for their rooms (ages 4-10). That started as soon as they could pick up things and put them away in the right spots.

My 7, 9, & 10 yr olds take turns setting and clearing the table, cleaning their bathroom, & sweeping. If they've done what they are supposed to, WHEN they are supposed to and at the end of the week without bad attitudes they will get their allowance of $10 for the schoolaged and $5 for my youngest. (his goes into his piggiebank); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by ~ronnie on September 22, 2008 at 5:29pm: Good for you! People are often stunned when I tell them my 4 year old puts away her laundry and washes dishes. I had never even thought to ask her to do either of these things until she showed a definite interest in helping. She gets to help me whenever she wants (she just started FOLDING her clothes, too!), and if I pull her away from an activity to help me, I reward her with a Scholastic book or a book out of the bargain bin at Border's.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Bargain Mama on September 22, 2008 at 8:22pm: My 5 year old ROCKS at doing laundry (thankfully someone in this house does ha). She seriously though has developed an OCD thing for cleaning dryer lint. odd. i know i know.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Rae Osenbaugh on September 23, 2008 at 1:17pm: Everyone had chores--and when the kids turned 11 they learned to do their own laundry. With 8 kids in the house we had assigned laundry days. Everyone looked forward to being a senior in High School, because the rule then was Seniors have no chores (because they're so busy at school)....but now that my only child at home is a Senior, I'm having trouble with that rule ((smile)). -Rae in Nebraska; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Traci on September 23, 2008 at 2:56pm: My 9 year old son actually starts and rotates through almost all of the laundry and my two youngest girls (8 & 6) help him fold and put away the laundry. They also all sweep, dust, mop and empty the dishwasher, make their own beds, scoop the cat litter box and can do pretty much anything else around the house as well - include some cooking. I did the same with my oldest three children, who are now all married.

As a child, I was cleaning my own bathroom at age 7, and doing regular housework by then as well. Our job as parents is to raise them to be independent adults and possibly someone's future spouse. I'm thankful that my mother/father-in-law taught my husband how to cook and clean, as well as how to do handy-man maintenance work around the house. We are teaching our children the same way.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jens4him on September 23, 2008 at 6:30pm: Wow! This is something that I struggle with. I feel like the kids should pitch in around the house because they live here, and that's just part of it. They don't get paid for it, usually. My daughter, 12, is motivated by money, and has a major attitude. It seems like I can only get her to do things if I offer money. That sounds really bad doesn't it? I should be able to ask, expect, and see results as her parent. Where oh where have I gone wrong? She also dances a lot, and that costs us a lot, so I love the idea of not paying her because of the time requirement and money spent on her already. I need help!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Regina Marie on September 24, 2008 at 1:09am: My daughter started doing chores at 8 when she asked for more than just weekly lunch money.

Now she has the potential of earning $20 a week. Each chore has a different price value, i.e. dishes are $1 since they're done every day. Taking out the trash is $2 since it's only done once a week.

I don't expect her to do all her chores, the lesson I'm trying to teach her is, the more effort you put in, the more you will earn in life.... and that nothing is free. I'm a working mom, so the value of effort and earning is important to me.

I don't want to force her like a slave driver, I'd like to let her figure it out for herself. There's moments where there's something she wants to buy and will do as many chores as she can to buy what she wants as soon as possible. Then she has her lazy moments too, as I said I try not to obligate her, instead I do my best to encourage her to use good judgement by giving her reasons she should not get lazy and stray from her responsibilities... i.e. you will have to do double the work next to earn what you didn't do last week.... or... pace yourself and even though there isn't something you want to buy... continue to save for a rainy day.... etc.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by A Cowboy's Wife on September 24, 2008 at 7:52am: My kids are very hard workers. They were given simple chores as early 2. (like picking up their toys and putting them in a toybox) By 5, they have always had to help with horse chores, ranch chores, etc. They now each have to wash at least one load of their own laundry and put it up. I will do the rest after that. It's kinda nice to know that when they are in need of a particular shirt or something, they go in there on their own and wash themselves without even asking me:)

We do NOT pay them. To me, it's part of their responsibility to do chores like this as a family. We reward them in other ways like report cards. Because they do work harder than most kids, we tend to help them out with money every now and then.

Of course, they also earn their own money by riding horses, small jobs for people, etc so they always have money but they work for every bit it.

I think it's very important for kids to have chores and not be paid. Too many kids these days are spoiled.; ▶ Reply to This

Kids and Chores

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