Allowing children to clean and help around the house teaches kids age-appropriate responsibility as well as the value of work. Based on feedback from twitter and the comments on my Cleaning Kids post last week, many of you agree! Although every child develops at their own pace, below is a list of chores that can be used a guide when training your children to help around the house.
Chore List: One Year Old
- Pick up toys
- Pretend clean (wipe up spills, dust, sweep, etc.)
Chore List: Two to Three Years Old
(in addition to the above)
- Help make up beds
- Help feed pets
- Help sort laundry
- Place spoons and napkins on table
- Unload plastic dishes from dishwasher
Chore List: Four to Five Years Old
(in addition to the above)
- Make beds
- Set and clear the table
- Dust
- Wipe up spills
- Help put away groceries
Chore List: Six to Eight Years Old
(in addition to the above)
- Help fold clothes
- Put away clean laundry
- Help with simple cooking and food preparation
- Vacuum
- Take out the trash
- Water plants
Chore List: Nine to Ten Years Old
(in addition to the above)
- Wash dishes by hand or load and unload dishwasher
- Prepare simple meals
- Change sheets on beds
- Learn to use the washer and dryer
- Clean bathrooms
- Help with yard work
- Help wash car
Chore List: Eleven Years Old and Older
- Train older kids to do anything an adult would do
Is there anything I missed? What would you add to the list?
iDreamOfClean
I’m a wife. I’m a mom. And I don’t like to clean! With a house full of boys, though, cleaning is inevitable. That's why I've made it my mission to find the best organizing and cleaning tips. Hopefully, those tips will help us spend less time cleaning and more time with the ones we love.
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{ 22 comments… read them below or add one }
I have my one year old put laundry in the washer and take it out. He loves to stand on the “ladder.” Also, put dirty dishes next to sink.
It is just amazing what a one year old can do!! I would have NEVER guessed it before having one!!
PS. I love this list. Very attainable!
Fantastic, and makes me feel good about what I expect from my 1 and 3 year old. I think your age appropriate chores are perfect.
The whole point is training them so we can retire early, right? (Giggle)
Absolutely, yes!! :-)
I have my 5 and 10 year old boys do the laundry with the help of Purex 3 in 1 sheets. They don’t have to pour the laundry soap, and they don’t worry about reaching for the dryer sheets. It’s amazing!!
That is so smart!!
I have five kiddoes, ages 2 to 14. I’ve been focusing this month on making sure that they help around the house. There is so much they can do, and the younger ones do love to help. Anytime a knife is involved, my six year old is quick to help out!
I highly recommend getting started early! I’m having a bit of a tough time with my fourteen year old son because I didn’t involve him much for the first seven years. But, I keep working on it because I really do need a second set of hands around the house, especially in the summertime.
FEEDING/taking care of pets!! also – mine are *supposed* to do one random household task fo rthe family every day. Works better when we are “in school”
also – My 1 & 12 year old have a weekly chore of making a dessert for wed. night potluck and CLEANING UP afterwards.
*Blessings*
LIB
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Taking care of pets is a great item to add! Thanks for the idea.
Great ideas — my toddler’s been helping unload the dishwasher for some time now. I need to print this out.
Isn’t it fun to watch them help? Especially while they still think it’s fun!!
my son is five (gonna be six) and i cant get him to do ANYTHING on that entire list.
My son, who is now 11, learned to laundry at the age of 8…yes, 8. He made the mistake of complaining about his shirts were folded and catching mommy on the wrong day….the very next week when it was time to do laundry, i showed him how to sort his clothes, use the washer and dryer. Only on a few occasions since then have I done any of his laundry. It has taught him about being responsible for his own things, but also that when others are doing for you, complaining isn’t always the best thing. :)
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lol!! Life Lessons From the Laundry Room…I think that’s a post waiting to happen :-)
My kids get a new chore each birthday- sad, huh.
When they are 1, they are to take their dirty diapers and throw them in the trash- that is their job until they are potty trained.
It’s also a good time to teach them to put away toys into the buckets/box.
My 2 year old brings the garbage cans around the house and I empty them and take out the bag while he puts the cans away.
It’s also a matter of finding ways to motivate them- my 7 year old doesn’t like mess so it’s easy, my 5 year old responds best to timers (5 minutes to get this done- beat the timer) or racing me while I do another job, he is the most difficult to convince that he needs to help out around the house, but he is also old enough to lose privileges when he doesn’t do anything.
Great list!
My 2 year old LOVES cleaning. She puts away her toys without asking and when things get really crazy we make a game of it. She also loves cleaning tables and other things with rags. She’s actually pretty good at it, just not that thorough :)
Kids will do a whole lot of things if we just let them…and don’t make it too boring. They see mom doing it all the time and they want to be grown up too…so don’t limit them!
I just found you through The Diaper Diaries. This post totally caught my eye. I just wrote about my kids chores a couple hours ago. Looks like I’m pretty in line with your suggestions too. Even as I was writing my post I wondered if maybe we gave our kids too much, but it’s not like they do all of them every day…..
I’ve just stumbled onto this post via Giving Up on Perfect – and am so excited to try out those things with my girls – I’ve got a 4 year-old, a 2 1/2 year-old, and a 4 month-old – and am constantly wondering if I expect too much of them on the “for the love of PETE will you please pick up after yourself????” front. Thanks to this post, I’ve got a good (but small) basic list of things to get them to help me with around the house. And looking at the list, they’ll LOVE doing those things with their Mummy! Thanks heaps, from a very tired mum in Australia!
I love your blog. You have advise I have used for years. I love a clean home. I have trained my children to do their share. Kids are very capable. I get tired of whiny moms that say they can’t keep a house. Granted sometimes it is out of control but then I get off the tv and the computer, the kids too, and in 15 minutes whip it back in shape. Yep I said 15 minutes. It is amazing with everyone pitching in what 15 minutes can accomplish.
Thank you for posting this and thank you to all for the comments. I’ve been following you for awhile and discovered “A Slob Comes Clean” through you. I get so discouraged with keeping the house up. But I see “Aussie Mom” is in almost the exact place I’m @ with young children and know it’s just a matter of changing bad patterns. This natural born messy is going to get this figured out!
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