chores and your kids

[recycling goddess]

i have a question for all those other parents out there... how many chores do your kids do weekly? what are they? how old are your kids who are doing them...

i'm having some problems with my 12 yr old son... he does half the job (dishes etc) and then just walks out... very frustrating.

so, what do you all have your kids do? and how do you get them to do it?

[JLC]

My two older kids have regular chores they do on a daily basis, plus weekly chores that are supposed to be done every Saturday.


My 13 year old is responsible for keeping the kitchen tidy during the day and doing the dishes after dinner each night.

My 10 year old is responsible for keeping the living room and play room tidied up each day.

On Saturdays, they do those, as well as clean their own bedrooms and collect all the trash out of various bins in each room. And the 13 year old also cleans the kids' bathroom.

They do get paid well for these chores with a weekly allowance. No chores done...no allowance. 1/2 chores done...1/2 allowance. And they can take on extra chores for extra money, if they choose to do so, such as vacuuming, or folding laundry.

There are days when I really have to ride them to get things finished, and those days are frustrating. But I try to never let them get away with not finishing them, because that just teaches them it's OK to start a job and not finish it. Over time, they are gradually learning that it's easier to just do it and get it over with than to have Mom on their backs all afternoon. But we're by no means perfect at it and some days we're ALL lazy and nothing gets done at all! LOL (But at least we didn't start something we didn't finish...we started a lazy day and finished it! )

My 3 year old helps me with laundry, tossing clothes into the dryer as I pull them out of the washer. But he gets paid in hugs and kisses.

[frankykeno]

Kids always want to "help" when they are too little to be effective and then balk at doing squat when they are big enough to actually be helpful LOL


With Beth and Luke being respectively 12 and 14 this year, we just tell them what we need them to do that day and a time frame to do it in. If they don't want to or can't be bothered to do the work (or do it properly) then we "can't be bothered" to run them to a friends, let them watch tv or use the computer or whatever it takes to get their attention. It's pretty normal at that age to want to skip out on chores or rush through them. Heck I did the "my room's clean mom!" thing at that age and everything was piled in the closet or shoved under the bed LOL.

I find with the kids if I can sort of give them a time line. Like..."I need you to clean your room today BEFORE 2 p.m. and BEFORE you make any other plans for the day". That way they have some flexibility to decide when to do it. Most of the time of course they leave it till 1:59 p.m. or 2 minutes before they want to go hang out with a friend but hey...as long as it's done it's done...or they can have a really boring day home with a crabby mom.

The worst is when they rush through it and do it badly. They hate and I hate having to make them redo it but if not they won't get the point to leave more time to do it right the first time.

[4Khan]

My mom is a clean freak! always has been, she wouldnt really allow me to do much since she had to have everything be a certain way.

But i did have chores here and there. Also with me, as i got older, I didnt like to see her work 40 hours a week cleaning up after other people then spending her saturdays cleaning up after me so i felt bad and would offer to do things i knew i couldnt mess up.

Mostly I had weekly tasks.
1. take out the garbage when needed. no biggy, on my way to school or out the door to play
2. clean out the degu cage. if i wanted pets i needed to clean up after them
3. clean the tub (cant get that one worng.)

since i was an only child and it was just my mom raising me she did most of the work. But i will say she kept on me about cleaning up after myself. I wasnt allowed to leave a mess in any of rooms but my own. Keeping on me about that taught me to just keep things neat all the time. (do i keep things neat now...heck no..i live with a 20somethings guy who is a slob!) I was able to see how my mom kept her things neat and never left stuff laying around, why couldnt i do the same. try Makeing "cleaning up" a family affair where everyone influences each other.

Also the above post are very correct. you want some moolah you gotta work for it! the more you enforce reward for action the more you will get a response as well as help set them up for work responsibility when they get older. Also dishes are the most evil chore ever..dont ask me why but i believe everyone hates doing dishes! try splitting the load with your kid, my mom would do that with me!

good luck!

[jknudson]

Chores? LOL

Well I still live at home, and still do chores....well that is when I'm not working.

I mow the lawn weekly, vacuum, take out my garbage, laundry, and wash dishes. Sure beats paying rent for now.

Bribery works quite well for kids getting chores done. If there's something that I really wanted my parents would make me prove it by doings my chores correctly and without complaining for like a month.

[4Khan]

Chores? LOL

Well I still live at home, and still do chores....well that is when I'm not working.

I mow the lawn weekly, vacuum, take out my garbage, laundry, and wash dishes. Sure beats paying rent for now.

perfect! you'd be my moms most fave family member! (although she wont allow anyone in her house to vaccum)
my step sister is a lazy whale! cant understand why she has to do any of that!

ps....
I got a sink full if your not busy!

[jknudson]

perfect! you'd be my moms most fave family member! (although she wont allow anyone in her house to vaccum)
my step sister is a lazy whale! cant understand why she has to do any of that!

ps....
I got a sink full if your not busy!

LOL! Thanks for the offer, but I already did my chores for the day. Laundry, gave the room a deep clean, and dishes to boot. Oh and then I cleaned gecko tubs, and snake tubs.

-Jason

[kavmon]

our 16 yr old does kitchen,dishes(dishwasher) and trash. she also cleans her own br and bath. as much time as she spends in the bath it should be spotless! the 10 and 4yr old do alot less but they also don't get the allowance and extras the 16 yr old gets. everyone cleans their own animals and chips in with the snakes sometimes.


12 yr olds can be frustrating (it doesn't get better)! lol personally i am pretty firm and strict, if i say do it it better get done. i was rasied in an old fashioned military household. my wife is a bit more forgiving and easy going, the kids work her over alot! lol i don't have a solid answer, maybe a bit of both tough love and understanding? make a compromise but set a consequence if it isn't reached?

vaughn

[4Khan]

make a compromise but set a consequence if it isn't reached?

vaughn

or beat them senseless, hang them out to dry as an example to the other children!!!
just kidding!

[SnakeySnakeSnake]

i have a question for all those other parents out there... how many chores do your kids do weekly? what are they? how old are your kids who are doing them...

i'm having some problems with my 12 yr old son... he does half the job (dishes etc) and then just walks out... very frustrating.

so, what do you all have your kids do? and how do you get them to do it?

When I was a kid (11-15) I did the following fairly regularly, after that age I didnt do quite as much as I was working a job.

Water both outside dogs and feed them every night
Feed and water the chickens a few times a week
During growing season tend the garden/weed once a week
Keep room clean, share in doing dishes/cleaning house on weekend
During firewood season help gather and chop wood
Mow the lawn weekly during spring/summer/fall
Rake leaves during the fall

that is all I can think of for now if I had refused to do a chore or half did it, I would probably be grounded, and had a lot of privilges revoked, like sports, going over to friends, etc