Let’s Talk Children and Chores
Children and chores used to go together like peanut butter and jelly. These days less parents seem to be dishing out the hard work around the house. Many young adults going off to college are unable to even operate the washing machine or wash dishes. I grew up doing plenty of chores. I never got allowance either.
We thought of giving our children allowance for doing chores and then realized that no one will pay them to clean their house once on their own. Learning to run a house is important I do believe that earning money is important. So we have chosen to give the kids some options!
Each child has some age appropriate chores that they have to do daily. These include daytime & nighttime dishes, which they do by hand. The dish washer broke years ago and I figured they all needed to learn to hand wash. There is enough of them that I am still teaching hand washing skills! Daily chores also consist of sweeping, tidy the bathroom, taking out the dog, and the trash.
We also do a Saturday cleaning which involves cleaning your bedroom, and each child is given a room to clean top to bottom, kitchen, bathroom, dining room, etc. At the age of 13 they also start to do their own laundry. So what are the options we give them?
Well its to have extra chores! They can clean out the fridge $3, wash dog $3, mow lawn $10, clean pantry $5 and the list just keeps going. We made a cute available jobs list. The children can choose a chore and get busy earning some money. We stopped paying for extras around first grade.
The extras are that pack of gum at the checkout, toys, games, and accessories. We buy them great birthday and christmas presents yearly and of course buy them clothing. They have to pay to go to the movies with a friend (not if we go as a family though). My big kids are all successful employee’s that are disciplined workers. My 17 year old got a job and quickly made front manager within a few months.
I believe that hard work is taught not just something they will pick up later. I also believe that children learn self esteem by doing chores. Seeing a job completed is rewarding. I see my job as a mom is to teach my children to be success and productive members of society when they leave home. So how do you all feel about children and chores? Lets chat, comment below!
