How many of your kids help out around the house? How many help out but need constant reminding and you need to hear the “aw mom” each time you ask them to do their weekly chores?
Whatever your situation, you may want to try using a Kids Chore Chart to help motivate your kids to want to help out around the house. It will also give them a visual of what needs to be done each day so hopefully the reminders will become less frequent. You can use this Blank Chore Chart to fill in your own chores for each child.
Finding Age Appropriate Chores
If your kids do not currently help out around the house, there are quite a few different chores young children can help out with. Keep in mind that all kids are different, and what one child may be able to do at age 3, another may not. You know your kids best and what they are capable of helping with around the house.
Kids as young as 2 or 3 can do some chores on their own and others with supervision. They can help make their own beds and can even start to help clean up spills off the counters and floors. On their own they can pick up their own toys as well as put their dirty clothes into a hamper.
Kids around 4-5 years old should be able to get dressed by themselves with minimal help from a parent. They can also start making their own bed, though they may need more help with this one. At this age they can also start to set and clear the dinner table with supervision, as well as be responsible for giving the family pet food and water.
Once a child is going to school, they are usually ready to start taking on more of their personal chores with little to no help. Like making sure their teeth and hair is brushed, as well as picking out their outfit for the day and getting themselves dressed. They are also able to start helping out with more household chores. Children age 6 or older should be able to help with vacuuming and mopping the floors as well as emptying the indoor trash cans. They also can be almost totally responsible for a family pet at this age. Taking care of food, water and exercise.
As they get older, the chores can get harder, but this is also a great time to introduce your children to the washer and dryer. Kids in middle school are usually ready for the responsibility of doing their own laundry each week. And you will find that you definitely don’t miss the extra load or two each week.
Motivation using a Kids Chore Chart
To help keep the kids on track, a chore chart is great. They can use stickers or just a marker to mark each day which chores have been done. Before bedtime you can review to see if there are any that didn’t get done.
Motivation to do chores is a great way to ensure the kids will do their chores each day and keep up with them each week. Each family will have a different idea as to what that motivation will be, whether you use money or extra TV time, choose something that your child will really value and work hard to achieve.
This printable chore chart has a section at the bottom for the child to write in what they are working to achieve each week. $0.25 per chore and an extra 10 mins of TV or video games are some ideas. Or maybe they are working towards a bigger goal. A new bike may be a goal that can be reached after 3-6 months of doing chores every day.
There are also online options, like My Chore Chart. This is a FREE online chore chart that can help motivate your kids to do their chores by letting them earn rewards that they can save, donate to charity, or spend on toys!
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