Chores for your dc?

[FitMommyOf2]

DD has chores (if you can call them chores) since she's ~ 4 y.o.
-Cleaning up her room (putting toys, books, etc) away/back in its place
-Bringing her dish or empty yogurt container, banana peel and such into the trash

She also asks to help to set the table at lunch or dinner time on her own so I think we're going the right way.

DS is only 17 mo. old (will be Dec12th) but already know when I ask DD to clean up the toys in the living room he helps voluntarily.

[aept]

Originally Posted by mamallama My two year old has a chore. We have a shoe cabinet, and it is his job to pick up shoes and put them in the cabinet. If I say "it's time to clean up!", he starts looking for the shoes. A lot of the time, he does it w/out being asked, too, and when he takes off his shoes, he puts them right away. Obviously, he doesn't get an allowance, yet. He'd just eat it, anyway.

That had me ROFL! I'm picturing your two-year-old eating a dollar bill and some quarters while looking around to see if anyone's watching!

My ds doesn't have any chores yet, but he can't even roll over or reliably hold onto a rattle yet. We do believe in chores, though, and he will have some starting early. If I hadn't had chores as a kid I would have never learned to cook for myself!

[happy2bhome]

I been working on chores a bit with my dd (5) lately...

So far, I've asked her to make her bed & do "a morning job" after breakfast but before playing.

Jobs have included: putting books back on the bookshelf, emptying the dishwasher (the stuff she can reach - I keep the dks dishes in lower cupboards), putting away toys and/or clothes.

[Leininger27]

My ODS has the most chores. He is 6 1/2 and his daily chores include
Making his bed
Tidying his room
Toy room picked up (dd and ds2 help)
Load dishwasher
Take the trash out
Put his clothes away (on laundry days)

If he does this daily without being told he gets paid $6 at the end of the week. I chose to stick with $1 for every year he is so when he turn 7 his allowance will go up to $7.

[geckoed]

you'll find something that works for you. Here's what works for us:

We are a family and a family is the best team ever made, so we all work together to make our house a home and keep our family strong. By 2 my kids will say "I'm your family, I can help" and things like that. By 15 months my kids put their own diapers in the pail. They put their plates in the sink and their garbage in the trash. Before age 2 they help clean up their toys. Before they are 3 they can pull the blankets up to "make the bed" Around 3 they get real responsibilities (2 for some, it depends on the child)
My 3 year old, EVERY day:
feed dog and cat, water them
make bed
brush hair and teeth, floss
wipe bathroom sink
empty bathroom trash
pick clothes, get dressed
pjs into the laundry room
sort laundry into lights, darks, towels
put own dishes into dishwasher after rinsing them in the sink
pick up toys in living room

He recently started folding his own laundry like the other kids do, and putting it away (started putting it away around 3yrs 4months)
Also my kids collect things from the van EVERY time they get out to help keep it clean. My bigger kids do more of course. Their "dailies" are related to the care and keeping of themselves, the care and keeping of those who can't care for themselves, and "related tasks". So each kid does personal items (showers, baths, hair, teeth, asthma medicines, probiotics, whatever their body needs, dressing- they check the weather online first once they are capable, things like that) and their belongings (dishes, rooms, laundry), and my 2 oldest have their own pets to care for and we all help with family pets (and babies/toddlers who still need "care and keeping"). The "related tasks" develops a habit of "seeing what needs to be done" so my preschooler is IN the landry room with his laundry, he may as well sort it while he is there. He is AT the sink to brush his teeth and wash his hands and face, he might as well wipe the sink out before he leaves and put the cloth in the dirty laundry. It grows as they do. My bigger kids will start laundry while they are there (they are 7 and 8), they will fold baby clothes while they are folding their own, they will wipe off a counter just because it needs it. They do things that need doing, because "thats what people do"
They will do anything asked of them (I'm sure it wont last forever). We don't give an allowance. *I* don't get paid to live here and be a "good citizen" and thats not how things work. So I won't pay my kids for "nothing" or for "chores" it seems silly to me to pay them to be decent people.
I got a cash job cleaning a house and took my kids to work. They WORKED, and I paid them for that. They dusted, cleaned grout, changed sheets, scrubbed the fridge/stove etc etc etc. They did a real job outside of the home. So they were paid $2/week for that. They can take out trash, rake leaves, scoop poop, wash cars for neighbors to earn $. Once they can count money and perform basic addition tasks they are responsible for buying gifts they want to give. My kids really like to pick out birthday and Christmas gifts. In the beginning they could only drag trash for 50 cents and so they shopped at the dollar store. My 7yr old picks better gifts though and is willing to work hard to get the $ for better stuff. She also chooses to plan ahead and will start saving and planning months in advance.

[Kylie&Logan'sMommy]

My 2 1/2 year old has "chore" she does them on her own that is how they got started
she sets the table (i get everything out and put it where she can reach)
she feeds the dog dry food (water would be a mess)
she puts her dirty clothes in her hamper

[CMamma]

My son is 3yo & he has chores... although a lot of htem aren't chores so much as they are his hygeiene responsibilities... but he has a picture chart & it's easy for him to look at the pictures. He gets rewarded with red or green "choices" which are just circles that get placed on the chart. I don't do allowances. During the week he can pick from a jar where he can have other rewards where he can pick other circles from the jar where it might say "special time with mom" or "pick out a treat from the store" or something like that... something we were gonna do anyway. I don't like paying him for things b/c I saw my brother learn that he would get $ for everything & now he is 18 & won't get off the couch unless he has $ handed to him... & even then not unless it's a good enough amount of $. He's so lazy! Anyway... sorry to ramble! LOL

Some of his chores include:

Teeth brushing
Setting the table
Clearing the table
Empty the trash cans (like the ones from the bathroom that are just a shopping bag size)
Picking up his toys from the living room & taking to his bedroom
Putting his clothes in the laundry
Taking a bath
Putting his bath toys away
Hanging up his bath towel

Sometimes he will get misc jobs here & there like a wet rag to wipe the counter or something. You also have to keep in mind that most times I go after him and do the job again b/c he is still learning but I don't do it while he can see me - it's usually after he's gone to bed or something. It's really hard for a neat freak like me to be patient & let him to something instead of me just doing it all together but he needs to learn.

[tillers72]

I am getting a lot of ideas from you guys and appreciate them all! The more I think of it, the more I agree that I get no 'monetary' reward when I clean the house...just the satisfaction of not living in filth!