How to Decide on Age Appropriate Chores for Your Child
Screen assignments based on your child's maturity., Make choices based on your child's personality., Avoid assigning undesirable chores., Tailor assignments for their attention span., Get creative and playful.
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Screen assignments based on your child's maturity.
When thinking about "age appropriateness," a factor that has to be considered is a child's mental age and not just the number of years they've been alive.
Some 12 year olds can be very mature for their age and might be capable of looking after a younger sibling while you're in another room, while some 15 year olds might be too flaky to be trusted with feeding a pet turtle.
Asking yourself questions about your child's mental maturity is an important assessment to make.
The following are some example questions you can ask yourself:
Does my child follow the house rules even if I'm not there, like not going outside by themselves or not answering the door if it's a stranger? Does my child know how to use the phone and how and when to call a neighbor or an emergency number? Does my child understand the consequences of their actions, like if they say rude words or talk back? Does my child generally make responsible choices, like independently cleaning up their own messes? Does my child seem confident about working independently, or do they need me to help with their homework and anything complicated or new? -
Step 2: Make choices based on your child's personality.
Rather than thinking about chores as being "one-size-fits-all" by age, consider that even young children have preferences that make them unique.
Some tasks may suit their personalities more than others quite naturally.For example, if Billy likes animals, and Suzy likes to work by herself in the kitchen, then Billy might enjoy feeding and brushing the dog, and Suzy might like doing the dishes and setting the table.
Ask yourself questions like the following:
Does my child enjoy being outdoors or indoors more? Does my child like to be sedentary or do they like to be active? Does my child like a daily routine or do they get bored and need variety? Has my child ever shown an interest in learning something I was doing, like cooking dinner or gardening? Does my child have any particular interests that would make certain chores more appealing than others, like building things out of toys, painting, or even playing house? , While you obviously can't let a child opt out of every chore, some children dislike cleaning toilets due to the perceived grossness of the task, and others may dislike vacuums due to the noise or the heaviness of the machine.
Think back to your interactions with your child; if they've ever made complaints about about being assigned these chores in the past, redistribute accordingly.
Getting your child's feedback on chores they prefer might seem like it takes some of the power in the relationship away from you the parent, but this technique has been proven to increase levels of cooperation and amicability.If your child simply does not want to do any chores, some kind of reward or points system leading up to earning a prize might be needed to incentivize chores.
Earning a trip to the ice cream parlor or monetizing chore completion with an allowance may be helpful. , Children generally have a much shorter attention span than most people realize.
Research suggests that a child's age is the number of minutes you can expect a young child to be able to concentrate on a single task.
Children 6 and 7 years old can only maintain concentration on a task that takes 30 minutes to complete if they are actually interested in it.To help keep your child engaged, you may need to make a game of it: a race to see how fast the spoons can all be put away, for example, or getting a sticker/point on a prize graph for every small trash can collected around the house. , Try using music, dance, and even pretend to make dull chores more exciting.
You can easily dance while mopping, vacuuming, and putting dishes away.
You could pretend you're robots, fancy maids and butlers, or even undercover agents pretending to clean while really you're trying to spy on someone. -
Step 3: Avoid assigning undesirable chores.
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Step 4: Tailor assignments for their attention span.
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Step 5: Get creative and playful.
Detailed Guide
When thinking about "age appropriateness," a factor that has to be considered is a child's mental age and not just the number of years they've been alive.
Some 12 year olds can be very mature for their age and might be capable of looking after a younger sibling while you're in another room, while some 15 year olds might be too flaky to be trusted with feeding a pet turtle.
Asking yourself questions about your child's mental maturity is an important assessment to make.
The following are some example questions you can ask yourself:
Does my child follow the house rules even if I'm not there, like not going outside by themselves or not answering the door if it's a stranger? Does my child know how to use the phone and how and when to call a neighbor or an emergency number? Does my child understand the consequences of their actions, like if they say rude words or talk back? Does my child generally make responsible choices, like independently cleaning up their own messes? Does my child seem confident about working independently, or do they need me to help with their homework and anything complicated or new?
Rather than thinking about chores as being "one-size-fits-all" by age, consider that even young children have preferences that make them unique.
Some tasks may suit their personalities more than others quite naturally.For example, if Billy likes animals, and Suzy likes to work by herself in the kitchen, then Billy might enjoy feeding and brushing the dog, and Suzy might like doing the dishes and setting the table.
Ask yourself questions like the following:
Does my child enjoy being outdoors or indoors more? Does my child like to be sedentary or do they like to be active? Does my child like a daily routine or do they get bored and need variety? Has my child ever shown an interest in learning something I was doing, like cooking dinner or gardening? Does my child have any particular interests that would make certain chores more appealing than others, like building things out of toys, painting, or even playing house? , While you obviously can't let a child opt out of every chore, some children dislike cleaning toilets due to the perceived grossness of the task, and others may dislike vacuums due to the noise or the heaviness of the machine.
Think back to your interactions with your child; if they've ever made complaints about about being assigned these chores in the past, redistribute accordingly.
Getting your child's feedback on chores they prefer might seem like it takes some of the power in the relationship away from you the parent, but this technique has been proven to increase levels of cooperation and amicability.If your child simply does not want to do any chores, some kind of reward or points system leading up to earning a prize might be needed to incentivize chores.
Earning a trip to the ice cream parlor or monetizing chore completion with an allowance may be helpful. , Children generally have a much shorter attention span than most people realize.
Research suggests that a child's age is the number of minutes you can expect a young child to be able to concentrate on a single task.
Children 6 and 7 years old can only maintain concentration on a task that takes 30 minutes to complete if they are actually interested in it.To help keep your child engaged, you may need to make a game of it: a race to see how fast the spoons can all be put away, for example, or getting a sticker/point on a prize graph for every small trash can collected around the house. , Try using music, dance, and even pretend to make dull chores more exciting.
You can easily dance while mopping, vacuuming, and putting dishes away.
You could pretend you're robots, fancy maids and butlers, or even undercover agents pretending to clean while really you're trying to spy on someone.
About the Author
Ronald Anderson
Dedicated to helping readers learn new skills in pet care and beyond.
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