Household Chores

I see you are thinking that her chores should grow with her and I agree......My children started by collecting the laundry into a pile, feeding the family pet then moved on to helping put away dishes from the dishwasher (only ones that were low enough for them to reach without a chair), take out the trash, dust, shine mirrors, wipe the lower cabinets in the kitchen, etc. Only you know what chores you think she is ready to handle with minimal supervision, but I think you're on track. Good for you!

Try www.handipoints.com. It's an online chore chart for kids. My son has certain things he has to do each day. You can even do behavior charts (like brushing teeth, putting clothes in hamper, etc.). I think there may be a section which suggests age appropriate chores.

My son loves to check off the boxes each day and work towards a prize.

How old is she now, 4?

We wrote a bunch of chores on popsicle sticks. Each Sunday, the four of us- parents included (!)- go around and we take turns picking out sticks we want, round robin, until all are gone. My kids are 7 and 9. Here are some examples, I bet you can guess which ones are the more popular choices:

Help Mommy cut out coupons from Sunday's paper
Dust the stairs
Help bake the lunch desserts for the week
Help push the garbage cart to the curb
Take out compost and dump into compost bin
Water plants in all rooms
Sweep porch
Scrub one toilet
Wash three mirrors
Mow lawn - an adult always has to get that one
Return library books (we live a block from the library, we so watch them walk there/back and put books in the outdoor collection bin)
And collect the fresh vegetables from our garden.

They actually look forward to the "chore draw" and trying new chores each week. They get excited if they can think up another one to add. Right now we have 29 chores! Which means we each do at least 7 a week!

Have fun with your little helper. That is great that you are teaching her all of these things and spending this nice time with her. Kids love to work with their parents and feel important contributing to their family.

My son started chores around age 4 too- just picking up, helping 'set' the table with napkins and silverware, etc. Now he does these things:

1) empties the dishwasher and puts away the dishes
2)feeds and waters the dogs, the cats and his guinea pig
3)picks up his room and makes his bed
4)helps me carry the laundry baskets downstairs, and sort laundry, also sometimes helps me fold and puts his own laundry away
5)helps take out the garbage and the recycling and on trash day, helps haul the can out to the curb
6)takes kitchen scraps out to our garden compost pile
7) in summer, helps plant and then weed the garden and pick veggies
8)helps set the table and clear the table for meals
9) helps with walking the dogs
10)helps read grocery list, read ingredient labels and carry in and put away groceries...

wow- he does a lot!! anyway, he earns an allowance now- we get paid every 2 weeks, so he is paid $5 per week or $10 per payday for doing chores willingly and with a good attitude AND doing his homework. If he has a snotty attitude about it or doesn't do his homework, etc. he loses $$. It seems to work really well!

Our 4-year-old puts away the silverware from the dishwasher after it's been run (we take out the sharp knives). We have a stool in the kitchen for her, so it makes it relatively easy to just pull it up to the counter, open the drawer next to her, and let her go to work. :-)

C., at 4 a couple jobs my kids had were to empty the little garbage cans in the bathroom. we kept a jewelbag in each one so its just a little bag of stuff. they can pull it out and bring to the kitchen to go out to trashcan. also my little ones helped sort laundry this was good practice for later on when they started helping fold and then by about 12 to actually do laundry. they can dust with a cloth you put the dust wax on.

The earlier the better. Every year that she gets older add a few more little thing she can do. Small things, like make her bed, empty her trash or dust the table. Just little things that are fun for them at this age. It will pay off when she is much older.

I avoid the word chore but I try to engage my 2 yr old in "helping." She goes to montessori so she is pretty well exposed to the "activities of daily living" so she has her own little broom and dustpan and she "helps" me with this, she helps putting groceries away in the fridge, she tidies up her toys, she "helps" by cutting up banana or some other fruit, she hangs up her coat (I have a hook for her down low on the coat rack. She helps a little with putting away her cups and plates from the dishwasher. Her stuff is plastic. She could also help me with dusting - When I say she helps, I amn't really expecting that any of it will be done terribly effectively and I will likely do most of it but she will participate and have fun while learning. good luck.

My daughter who is 4 does table setting, cleaning the placemats after meals with, loading and unloading the dishwasher(I put the breakables away), putting her cloths away, caring the garbage bag and putting just outside the door of the garage, taking garbage cans in after pickup or the recycle bin. I'm also starting to teach her how to make her bed and fold her cloths. Now she doesn't do these everyday but I let her pick 1 or 2 of these for her to do for the day. Hope this helps.

My 4 year old is my "runner". I stand at the kitchen counter that collects all the junk and tell her where to put things (bedroom, bathroom, garbage, recycle). I also have her put her clean clothes away. I sit on her bed and hand her things. She cleans her room and helps her 2 year old brother clean his room. She loves the attention and knows the faster I get my things done, the sooner she will have my attention to play.

Those are such great chores. My almost 5-year old boy began stripping his bed every Sunday for me. To my surprise, he also wanted to learn how to make it up from scratch. It doesn't help me as much as it enforces pride of responsibility. He also clears his place setting from the table and helps with the garbage (empties the little cans into the big bag - even bringing the little trash bins into the kitchen and returning them to their respective rooms is a help!)

I also began an allowance for him this fall (his older brother has an allowance), so consider that for her at some point, too. I explained that we do some things to be good members of the family (no allowance). Other things are done to earn allowance. With an allowance comes the responsibility of understanding how much things cost and deciding whether to save or spend. Two years ago, my oldest was in 1st grade and picked out $45 gym shoes without noticing the price. I told him I didn't want to spend more than $25. Because he had an allowance, he understood how much $45 was and when he saw the price tag he was incredibly surprised. In turn we were able to find some cool shoes on sale without him complaining.