Do your children do chores?

Sian_the_Green

Maybe calling them 'chores' isn't a good move either, makes them sound depressing. you could set a time each day for 'family jobs' time and everyone has something to do, first one to volunteer/get up can choose what song you play really loudly on the stereo whilst it gets done. Maybe afterwards you go inspect each other's work and decide who did the best job and then that person gets a special treat, or at the end of the week the one who did the least complaining gets to choose a film to rent or a family activity for the weekend.
I remember having to clear my own mess up as a kid and drying up/laying the table/ making bed/making sure all washing was in the machine...

ElusiveLucy

My OH's 14 year old son is at boarding school during the week and when we have him for weekends he does absolutely nothing. He has mentioned to me that they have to strip and make their beds at school, but that's about it. All their food is cooked for them, the washing up done etc.

It seriously worries me that he seems to do absolutely nothing when here (no washing or drying up even). I've tried suggesting that maybe he could dry up but my OH just says he'll break something. I worry more for his son and how he will cope when he leaves home. I think I might get him to help me cook dinner next time he's here, try and get him interested in something around the house.

mummy_Jay

With my 4 year old it's always been team work: he sets the table (every night without fail) whilst I cook dinner, he dusts whilst I hoover, he has his bucket and cleans some of the low part of the car I do the rest ,he bounces on the bed whilst I try and change them, he feeds the rabbit, I do all the cage cleaning that sort of thing.

He doesn't get paid to do them and I've never called them jobs.

elljay20

my dd is 5 and gets £3 a week pocket money and has to do a few little things like make her bed and and put her plate in the sink etc. she also helps me with the polishing and other general stuff like that.

Tbh it's not about just being paid for doing chores, it's more a reward for good behaviour and to teach her the value of money. We no longer buy her anything, she has to save up and buy it out of her own pocket money. She just saved up £20 for a ds game she wanted. It took a good few months as she looses some of her pocket money if her behaviour slips, but i'm proud of her that at 5 yrs old she's gone without trats, magazines and sweeties to save up for her game!

retepetsir

newcook wrote: »

TBH I wish more parents would encourage their children (especially boys) to help with housework/chores - my last 2 boyfriends seemed to be allergic to anything related to tidying/cleaning/putting stuff away because their moms had always done it for them!! Major turn-off!!!!

I used to help around the house (and at my dads when I stayed at weekends) - just little things at first such as put away toys etc and by the time I was 10/11 I was helping peel veg for dinner, feeding the dogs, ironing little things (under supervision) like teatowels etc. If me and my brother wanted to earn extra pocket money we used to wash the windows (obviously not very well but we tried!).

I'm the complete opposite, I like a tidy place .

Single? :rotfl:;)

linni

I used to give mine stars for good behaviour and 'helping'. Each star was worth 10p and a bonus' when they filled the page. As they got older we stopped doing this. They were permenantly 'bored', and didn't want to do anything except playstation, computer, etc, whilst we were running around doing everything, so we now have a 'chores list' which covers the basics, clean and vac their rooms, iron their own clothes, clean shoes, wash and dry up etc. Extra money can be earned by helping with dinner, washing car or mowing and strimming lawns. I now find myself saying "if we are working so can you" and they are now realising what it is like running a home and it is so much easier and quicker when everbody helps.

misspenny

my ds 2 loves dusting though he not too good, i also include him in little jobs like putting cuttlery away after been in dishwasher, pairing up sock and seperating them into piles of who they belong to then we count to see who has the most ect, its helping to teach him the basics of maths aswell as the beginings of lookign after himself, he also stands on a chair to help with cooking, i'll let him chop mushrooms and stuff that can be done with a blunt knife.

BitterAndTwisted

My younger sister made a terrible rod for her own back where help in the home was concerned. Both she and her husband worked full-time but she used to lose patience when she asked her kids to help with the chores: either the jobs weren't done to her satisfaction or they weren't done quickly enough so she moaned and took over. Result? Two teenagers who know that they don't have to do a thing, ever but the cost is that they do have to listen to a whole lot of complaining while kicking back and relaxing. The eldest took a whole academic year at Uni to figure out how to cook and look after herself properly

mspig

My 12 year old does the dishes after tea(washes and dries them), cleans the sides in the kitchen and brushes the floor, and this contributes to his spends - £5.00 per week.
Though he has to keep his room tidy and his own things including his washing, and put away the ironing - but i wouldn't pay for him to do these things.

My little ones(3 and 6) help tidy up and put away their toys that they have out in their room or outside but i don't give them money for doing it, the 3 year old loves helping tiding up - he follows me round all day asking what he can do next.

MummyMoo

What a great thread! good old fashioned responsibilties!!! GOOD ON YOU PARENTS!!

I've raised my 2 and half year old through the Montessori Method, so when she dropped her glass on the kitchen floor at Xmas and it smashed.. she got out HER dustpan and brush and tidied it up! She was under two at the time. She chops veg along side me sometimes, pours the tinned food into the containers or cold pans, feeds the cats, fills up an empties the washing machine, hands me the wet clothes to put on the washing line, ALWAYS cleans her toys away when she's finished playing with them or we go out. This is now all off her own back and has been for the last year or so, she offers to help or even just offers to initiate it: ("me feeding da !!!!! cats mum?" whilst grabbing a pouch of food for them, she even tells the girls "no, dat one not yours lucy, dat one rosies" if they eat from the wrong bowls! lmao!).
Im not sure about money when she's older, i THINK i will but only a small amout. Right now though I teach her about giving the lady pennies if we want to take the food home etc, and that mummy goes to work to get pennies.