- Dec 20, 2019
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Age-Appropriate Chores:
How to Help Kids Be Responsible
Dirty dishes. Messy bedrooms. Toys on the living room floor. Some days, there just isn’t a good way to avoid the chore wars. But there is always tomorrow, and you can be proactive. Ask yourself, What chores are important for my children to learn, and what are they capable of doing? Then, check out this list of age-appropriate chores for kids will help you to discover the answers to those questions.
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Contents
As you view this list of chores for kids by age, remember that every child matures at a different pace. Adjust the chores you select for your kids to what you know about your children’s skills and talents. Realize that no child should do all of the chores listed below every day. Remember the importance of recognizing the difference between a chore (an ongoing task that benefits the household) and a life skill (an activity that children should know how to do before living on their own, such as handling money).
The following list of age-appropriate chores is only meant as a guide and reflects the types of chores that many children in specific age ranges are capable of completing. And we’ve included resources from some of these chores that offer hands-on, practical ways to train your children to do them. Hopefully, approaching chores for kids in a thoughtful and intentional way will help your children succeed in personal and family responsibility:
Personal Chores
Family Chores
- Take their dirty laundry to the laundry basket
- Fill a pet’s water and food bowls (with supervision)
- Help a parent clean up spills and dirt
- Dust
The 7 Traits of Effective Parenting and Chores for Kids
Adaptability
You will need to have psychological flexibility to be content with imperfections as your children learn to manage daily responsibilities.
Boundaries
You get to set up structure in your home as your children learn to work and enjoy work. Interestingly, a commitment to consistently doing chores and navigating responsibility together yields peace and connectedness for your whole family.
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Avoiding the Chore War With Your Kids
Our guests offer parents practical advice on teaching children responsibility by giving them age-appropriate chores.
Personal Chores
- Set out clothes for the next day
- Make their bed with minimal parental help
- Bring their things from the car to the house
- Pick up their toys
- Write thank you notes with supervision
Family Chores
- Set the table with supervision
- Clear the table with supervision
- Help a parent carry in the lighter groceries
- Sort clothes and towels for the laundry
- Match socks after clothing is washed
- Dust with supervision
- Hang up towels in the bathroom
- Clean their room with supervision
- Be responsible for a pet’s food, water and exercise
- Vacuum individual rooms
- Dust individual rooms
- Fold laundry with supervision
- Put their laundry in their drawers and closets
- Put away dishes from the dishwasher
- Clean their room with supervision
- Empty indoor trash cans
The 7 Traits of Effective Parenting and Chores for Kids
Grace and Forgiveness
Your children will most likely argue and imperfectly complete their chores. You can bridge these moments of failure by communicating and extending grace and forgiveness along the way. As you model this, you ease the tension that can come from chores.
Gratitude
Through a proper view of gratitude, you and your family can achieve a healthy perspective of chores. When you value gratitude, you bring a heart of service, a flexible mind, and a calming presence. Through your example, your kids have a better chance of cultivating gratitude in their own perspectives.
Get Your Copy of Avoiding The Chore Wars Now!
Chore Chart for Young Kids
Compensating Kids for Chores
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Personal Chores
- Keep bedroom clean
- Be responsible for homework
- Write invitations and thank you notes
- Change bed sheets
- Keep their rooms tidy and do a biannual deep cleaning
Family Chores
- Wash dishes
- Wash the family car with supervision
- Prepare a few easy meals on their own
- Clean the bathroom with supervision
- Rake leaves
- Learn to use the washer and dryer
- Put all laundry away with supervision
- Take the trash can to the curb for pick up
- Change light bulbs
- Dust, vacuum, clean bathrooms and do dishes
- Clean mirrors
- Mow the lawn with supervision
- Baby-sit or nanny
The 7 Traits of Effective Parenting and Chores for Kids
Respect
You get to set the tone for respect as a core ingredient to serving through chores. Chores are about respecting others and your family’s space. Ask yourself: do you model bringing life-giving words and life-giving actions to your home? Encourage one another as you conquer a home that naturally goes into chaos and disorder when everyone has so many competing demands and distractions.
Get Your Copy of Avoiding The Chore Wars Now!
Chore Chart for Tweens
Personal Chores
- Responsible for all personal chores for ages 9 to 12
- Earn spending money
- Purchase their own clothes
- Maintain any car they drive (e.g., gas, oil changes, tire pressure, etc.)
Family Chores
- Do assigned housework without prompting
- Do yard work as needed
- Baby sit
- Prepare food — from making a grocery list and buying the items (with supervision) to serving a meal — occasionally
- Wash windows with supervision
- Do housework as needed
- Do yard work as needed
- Prepare family meals — from grocery list to serving it — as needed
- Deep cleaning of household appliances, such as defrosting the freezer, as needed
The 7 Traits of Effective Parenting and Chores for Kids
Intentionality
As parents, you set up opportunities for your kids to serve and mature. Chores require guidance, follow through, and organization. You can help shape your child’s heart toward humility and responsibility, regardless of their personality. Some kids will be more difficult than others, but you can set up daily and weekly chores that are opportunities to serve one another.
Love
When there are emotional outbursts and tantrums, that’s when your children need your “A” game love. This is an opportunity to love your children by adapting to their interpretations or frustrations so you can guide their understanding of responsibility.
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Family Q&A
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About the Author
Sheila Seifert
Sheila Seifert is the editorial director of Brio and Focus on the Family magazine, the author of over 20 books and the founder of Simple Literature.
More by Sheila Seifert
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