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Just curious about chores. In our family we had daily and weekly chores. I can remember doing them as young as five or six.
Daily:
Tidy up your room
Set the table
Wash or dry the dinner dishes
Quick vacuum downstairs
Bring down dirty clothes
Help with laundry (sorting/folding)
Water plants outside
Feed/water the pets
Take out trash
Weekly:
'Deep' vacuuming (had to move everything to vacuum underneath)
Dust everything downstairs
Clean pet cages
Completely clean room (vacuum, dust, etc.)
Yard chores (raking/cut grass/shovel snow depending on season)
Clean bathroom (tub, toilet, sinks, floor)
Scrub kitchen floor
A lot of these chores were on a rotating basis, so the same kid didn't do the bathroom every week or each kid would do a different section of the bathroom. I know I got allowance, but I don't remember how much. We could earn extra by doing special chores like washing the car. Saturday was the big weekly chore day. We loved holidays like Thanksgiving because they were the only days we didn't have to clean up after dinner!
It seems like today kids have less chores, but I'm wondering if that's just my perception and not the reality.
Our kids have been helping "clean" the house since they were toddlers. They loved to dust. As they got older they assumed more tasks and pretty much are responsible for cleaning the entire house in the summers. During the school year they just don't have much time to help but they still do laundry, clean their rooms, clean their bathrooms, help in the kitchen.
We assign floors in the summer and they are responsible for keeping that level of the house clean. They rotate weekly. We have been doing this since they were 9 or 10 and it works well.
Just curious about chores. In our family we had daily and weekly chores. I can remember doing them as young as five or six.
Daily:
Tidy up your room
Set the table
Wash or dry the dinner dishes
Quick vacuum downstairs
Bring down dirty clothes
Help with laundry (sorting/folding)
Water plants outside
Feed/water the pets
Take out trash
Weekly:
'Deep' vacuuming (had to move everything to vacuum underneath)
Dust everything downstairs
Clean pet cages
Completely clean room (vacuum, dust, etc.)
Yard chores (raking/cut grass/shovel snow depending on season)
Clean bathroom (tub, toilet, sinks, floor)
Scrub kitchen floor
A lot of these chores were on a rotating basis, so the same kid didn't do the bathroom every week or each kid would do a different section of the bathroom. I know I got allowance, but I don't remember how much. We could earn extra by doing special chores like washing the car. Saturday was the big weekly chore day. We loved holidays like Thanksgiving because they were the only days we didn't have to clean up after dinner!
It seems like today kids have less chores, but I'm wondering if that's just my perception and not the reality.
I never got paid for chores. Simply because my mom never had money.
I had to clean up my room, by 12 or so I was doing my own laundry.
I vaguely remember doing dishes and vacuuming but for the most part the place didn't get that messy and my mom stayed home all the time and she usually got it done before I was home from school.
Even though I have my own place now, its not as hard as I thought it would be to keep clean, you just take care of stuff right then and there and keep up with it.
When I have kids they'll have age appropriate chores, between 1-5 helping pick up their own toys, once they can; carry their dishes to the sink or the counter, picking up their rooms. I am not a fan of making beds so it probably will never be something I enforce. Once they hit maybe 8 or so start trying to teach them how to do laundry, vacuum, load the dish washer etc.
Once they hit middle school I hope to have them pretty self sufficient with cleaning their rooms, helping around the house but I think I might wait on 13 for yard work/ chemicals. Windex ok, everything else maybe not until 13 but by high school they will be cleaning their own rooms, cleaning their bathrooms and yard work and helping out around the house as needed.
Pick up after themselves and take care of the animals. Clean their own rooms.
No allowance. If they want money they can find some special project and I'll pay them if they finish it. I don't believe in paying anyone for something they should just do but I'm also not real strict on chores as I don't want to make it seem like chores. They get to a certain age and decide they can't have their laundry mixed in with anyone else's so they just start doing their own laundry.
One might enjoy cooking more than another - so I don't make a big deal out of much. It amounts more like -- "say -- why don't you help me out here" more than nagging them to do something or assigning duties.
Clean room
Clean her bathroom
Pick up her stuff around the house and put it away
Put away laundry
Help with dinner dishes
Occasionally help with vacuuming and dusting, etc...
She doesn't get paid for it because we feel this is something that you should just do.
My kids have less chores than they probably should, I know this. Probably because I am anal about cleaning and would never be happy with the job my kids (or hubby!!) would do! My oldest at 16 has to feed the cats day and night, and do their litter nightly. That's his only "assigned" chore. However, I do ask him to: mow and weed whack the lawn, vacuum for me here and then, empty the dishwasher and load it. My 11 year old has to keep his room clean and sweep the lanais.
However, whenever I ask them to do anything (take out trash, straighten the living room, wipe the tables...), they do it.
I don't pay them chores to do anything around the house. I believe that all should help in the house they live in, without being paid. That being said- I give them money whenever they want it. To go out with friends, buy a video game, do a baseball camp, get an expensive pair of sneakers- I'll pay for it. But I will not pay them to do "work" in the house.
I know I should start giving them more responsibility and get them prepared for the real world. I will soon!
They get $0.40 per chore ($2 for every 5 chores) Chores include setting the table, emptying the dishwasher, helping cook dinner, helping with laundry, and putting the recycling out.
I don't think they do chores as often as they should. But sometimes we are rushed and it is easier to do it myself, and sometimes I just don't feel like dealing with the whining.
They are expected to straighten up their rooms and common areas in the house when asked. This is not part of the allowance.
My kids are 18, 15, 13. They do whatever we ask around the house but they do not have set chores.
Our kids get an allowance when they get a drivers license. We expect for them to help around the house because they live here and we pay for their expenses because they are our kids. Once they have a license and are out more without us then we give them a set monthly allowance so that they can learn to budget money. During the school year my oldest had an allowance of $100 per month. Now that he graduated he is working and we do not give him an allowance. My middle son will have a license next school year. He will also get $100 per month during the school year. My youngest only goes out every now and then so we just give him money when he goes out.
We do not feel that kids should be paid to participate in running the household. If they do bigger jobs like powerwashing the pool deck we pay them extra money. But we will not pay them to load the dishwasher or help with the laundry. They just have to do those because they are part of the family.
Mine is 7. She has an allowance that's not tied at all to chores ($0.75 per week to spend, $0.25 to save. It'll probably go up to $1.25 to spend, $0.50 to save, and $0.25 to give away next school year). Generally her allowance has been just for buying things she wants, but next year we'll expect her to budget for school bake sales and snacks at special school events. The plan is to increase her allowance while also increasing the number of things she'll need to pay for out of pocket -- we'll see how that works...
So, funny story re: chores -- not long ago the kiddo went on a rant about how she's expected to do more than anyone else around the house! And she has school! And homework! And music practice! So what would be fair would be to make a list of all the things that have to be done around the house and divide it equally in thirds! Heh. Her dad and I readily agreed to that one. When she saw exactly what goes into keeping the house running, and the hours she spends on school/homework/music/ballet compared to the hours her dad and I spend on our fixed obligations (work, school, etc.), and how little she was actually doing around the house, it changed her attitude totally. We had her pick three chores she wanted from the list we came up with and I'm intending to have her add one every three or four months.
Her daily chores are putting her laundry in its place, cleaning up after herself in the bathroom (wringing out her washcloth, putting away her toothbrush, etc.), setting the table, taking out compost as needed, and generally straightening up after herself when she gets things out. Periodically this results in a somewhat-major room cleaning.
Once a week she changes the towels in both bathrooms, takes the trash from both bathrooms to the main trash, and cleans both toilets. I figure in July or August I'll let her switch out one of those for something else if she wants to and add one more.
My boys allowance is based upon overall weekly attitude, performance in school, grades and if they have done the normall day to day chores throughout the week. We have one son who does what is asked without an argue, does his homework without being asked, is on the honor roll and is always happy to help out. His brother, lol, inevitably will argue if asked to help out, has to be reminded to do homework, usually does not clean up after himself and we are always having to check up on him as far as grades are concerned. Obviously one son gets paid more allowance than the other. My goal with this is that hopefully a brother will learn from a brother about the value of being a good person.
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