Do your children do chores?

louisewh123

My sons lad is 5 and stays with us on weekends. He drys up, gets the hoover out, takes out bins, helps with washing and clean the car. In return he gets his pocket money. He loves doing chores for money lol and will ask for more to do so he can fill his piggy bank!! He only gets small amounts tho, anywhere between 50p and a £1 for a few small jobs.

Agutka

Please please make your kids do chores, with rewards if you have to. I was always lazy and shouted at for not helping, but never encouraged in any way, and I now cannot run a house. It's just not in my blood. I get my poor one year old to tidy, he even set the table all by himself while we were on holiday!! Okay, everything was balanced in one corner of the table, but it saved me lots of trips. I don't want him to have the life I do. I want him to manage better.

Haileelu

I think 3 years old is too young for doing chores. It is better to do it when they after 8 years old, it's my opinion.

mumoftwins

My nearly 13 year old twins have been cleaning, tidying and polishing their rooms since they were 7, although it is harder now to get them to do it - DS usually gives me a 'Kevin' type reply when I ask him to do it and DD (depending on time of the month) says that she will but when it suits her :eek:.

They do do it though and also wash up and dry the dishes after a meal, put their clothes away when I've ironed them - eventually! Also, DS will cook an evening meal several times a week, and when my back is at its worst they have to iron, put the washing on, hang it on the line, bring it in and fold it, clean the bathroom and cloakroom, and polish around the house.

So all in all they're not bad kids for helping - DS gets pocket money for his hobby when he has done his jobs and DD is given a lump sum once a month to do with whatever she wishes.

ppolly

My 4 year old helps - although she isn't always willing to tidy up after herself. I tend to let her earn, say an extra half hour of telly or not let her play until the things are tidied up. We both tidy up every day at the end of the day. She does love chopping veg and can just about make cakes by herself. My DH never had to help at home and is now a very unconfident cook. She doesn't get pocket money yet.

OrangeProse

I had household tasks to do from a very early age (I'm a guy, by the way), as did my younger brother. We didn't get paid for it though! I don't remember getting 'pocket money' at all. When I started wanting stuff I had to go out and get a paper round (although my parents bought me the bike!). This was in the days when a 13 year old could still get a job like that.

I seem to remember that being a good way of doing it, as when we were teenagers and started to understand what money was for, we didn't see household tasks as in any way transactional. They were just things that needed doing around the house!

I seem to remember that when I was little it was dusting and folding towels, perhaps washing the cars. When I got a little older it was ironing and cooking. Mowing the lawn was a teenage thing (we had a huge garden so the mower was one of those massive petrol-powered things).

We didn't really have treats or get bought things, except stuff we needed for school or whatever, or at Christmas and birthdays (obv.). We weren't allowed fast food, or biscuits, or sweets, at all. We had cake sometimes but it was always a homemade one. There was no such thing as PlayStation or Xbox in those days, although some people did have Commodore Amigas and Sega Something-or-others (MegaDrive? something like that). Am I showing my age here or what! We never had anything like that in our house though.

It was the same with food. I didn't have a McDonald's or anything like that until I was 19! I was also seriously amazed sometimes when, as a kid, I would go round to my friends' houses and they all had some kind of variation on 'the big sweetie jar' that they could dip into when they'd cleaned their rooms or whatever.

Anyway, wandering off-topic here. Household tasks for kids = good in my opinion.

boredjellybean

I have always tried to include my DD's with the 'chores' sometimes this has been successful ~ others not. We have just introduced a small financial incentive for keeping their room tidy & they do general bits & bobs mostly willingly ie. lay the table, put away clothes etc - of course I still need to give them a nudge sometimes but I think on the whole they are fairly good

BB

itzmee

Haileelu wrote: »

I think 3 years old is too young for doing chores. It is better to do it when they after 8 years old, it's my opinion.

3 is definitely not too young to do chores, they can tidy up their own toys, put litter in the bin, 'help' with dusting and cleaning, sweeping, wash up a few plastic cups and plates etc. At this age chores are fun as even though a child isn't capable of doing a good job they like to feel that they are helping.

My boys - 13 and 6 - do jobs around the house. The youngest is expected to tidy his toys off his bedroom floor and if he doesn't then I will get rid of them - I have actually filled black bags with old toys that he no longer plays with if they stay on the floor for too long! The oldest empties the dishwasher each day and also has to tidy his room. I used to change his bedding for him but he has a high sleeper and I hate climbing the ladders as it's quite high, so now he has to do it himself! He also cleans the bathroom to earn extra cash and the younger one loves to help too.

Kids need chores as they need to know how to look after themselves when they are older/independent.