Chores by the Ages

As parents, we want to teach our child how to live in the world around them and how to be responsible. These are life skills that they will need into adulthood.

Many parents want to start as soon as possible in teaching how to do chores, but often wonder what is the age appropriate chores they should be teaching and expect good results from?

In the following post, I am going to go over some age appropriate chores as well as some tips on what to expect.


Toddlers: (ages 2-3)
~Picking up toys
~Putting dirty laundry in baskets
~ Dusting low, unbreakable items


Pre-school (ages 4-5)
~Helping wipe counters and spills
~Making their bed
~Watering plants (low)
~Matching socks

Elementary school aged (6-10)
~Feeding pets
~Doing dishes
~Taking garbage out 
~Sorting Laundry

Tweens (11-12)
~Straightening up common areas with little to no help
~Helping with dinner or meals
~Weeding out gardens
~Sweeping well

Teens (13-17)
~Doing laundry
~Getting groceries (with list)
~ Mowing the lawn/weed-eating

Tips: 

Expect chores to take longer. Remember, your child is learning not only how to do the chore, but they may not have as fine tuned abilities as you do. Let go of perfection and timeliness for these lessons.

If you have a child that is too young to reasonably be expected to do a chore alone, offer to have them help you do it. Cleaning the walls? Give a small child a rag and you do it as well. This not only helps them feel accomplished, but also builds a sense of teamwork.

If your child does a less than perfect job and it makes you feel like you must "fix it", try to do it out of their site. They may begin to feel defeated if you make them feel inadequate.

If you must further instruct due to carelessness, try to do it in the kindest way possible. Always cheer them on when they do a good job!