Life skills for an 8 year old

[Mabelannie]

My 8 year old is quite incapable of lots of things I think an 8 year old should be able to do around the house. I’m tearing my hair out with homeschooling and thinking of just sticking to 1.5 hours a day of academic work each day for the rest of the school term and concentrate on some other skills instead.

What life skills should an 8 year old have (or a 7 year old)? I also have a 6 year old who is much more competent than my 8 year old at things like cleaning and putting out the recycling and general stuff around the house.

I’d quite like to get them both into a good routine of helping our or being a bit more self sufficient so I’m not their lifelong slave until they leave home. What should I expect of kids this age in terms of looking after themselves? Any suggestions of skills to work on and also how to present them to the children so they actually participate would be great!

My 8 year old can and does empty the dishwasher, recycling, bring the bins in on bin day, set the table, clears his dishes, dust/anti bac surfaces, empty the dryer, feed the cat/dog, help with the garden (rake leaves), hoover, makes his cereal / drinks, makes his bed in the morning, help put shopping away. He doesn't do this every day but he's capable of doing these things. All very easy

Too young to iron and he's not interested in cooking in the slightest.

At 8 years old, that was the age I was doing my HomeMaker badge at Brownies.
If you haven't already, show them how to boil the kettle (obviously you doing it with the first few times) and they'll be able to make a great cup of tea lol. Same with the toaster.
Also, bringing down the washing from bedrooms and showing them how to sort into coloured washing pile and white pile

Placemarking for a soon to be 8 yr old.
Just will take clothes off airer or out of tumble dryer and then put in basket and take upstairs. Fairly capable of a lot more but a lot of resistance and needs a lot of prompting - at the moment

According to my gran it was:

1. Using a knife. (Both the swiss army variety and in the kitchen).
2. Changing a fuse / plug safely
3. Changing a light bulb.
4. Making the adults a decent cup of tea - 8 was actually too old for this. We had to know it by 5!
5. Baking / cooking / being responsible for one dish everyday in the family meal (even if it’s just salad), and one other chore on top of it (dishwashing / sweeping / taking out the rubbish).

I think 8 is fairly young in terms of sacrificing school work for life skills?
I have 13, 11 and 5 year olds. 13 and 11 year olds will make their beds, sort their washing, put clean washing away. They’ll get the table ready for dinner, drinks, cutlery etc.
I don’t really expect much more as long as they’re getting on with school and activities, and just clear up after themselves.
5 year old pulls his quilt over in the morning, clears toys away before getting others out,, that’s about it.

I should add, I have boy girl boy. I expect them to do the same jobs and don’t separate into male female jobs.

Putting own folded washing away
Setting dinner table
Cleaning baby's highchair
Putting away toys/games
Watering garden
Making own bed
Wiping down kitchen sides
Washing up

Homeschooling has run its course here with an almost 7yo@ a 10 yr old. There's sweet fa from the school mind you.

We're going to do some household stuff but also work on building emotional resilience,(10yo is super sensitive), basic politics, typing & coding. Plus whatever else there are easy educational videos on bite size!

My DD empties the dishwasher with her older sister, puts shopping away, tidies the living room, sets the table, puts dirty plates in the dishwasher, waters the plants in the garden, can make toast, tidies her room, puts her laundry away, and this lockdown will warm pitta in the toaster and get homous from the fridge and that is her lunch done!*

Not all in any one day

8 year old wakes up and makes his bed. Then makes breakfast for him and his brother.
He helps with the dishwasher. And with putting clothes away. He also tidies up his room and the downstairs after he and his brother have finished playing.
He’s very absent minded so I wouldn’t trust him to cook just yet but he loves helping in the kitchen. I was feeling unwell today and he read to his brother and helped with bedtime. Actually he loves doing that.

Tying shoe laces
Riding a bike
Swimming
Taking care of a pet
Doing their hair and brushing teeth
Picking out appropriate clothes
Buying something in a shop
Making conversation
Making a phone call
What to do in an emergency
Locking and unlocking the door and dealing with alarm if present
Most domestic chores already listed above I suppose.

Seeing on a button would be useful

Putting their folded laundry away in the right place.
Sort the socks.
Put a (default) wash on.
Sort their dirty laundry into correct basket.
Hand wash any stains caused by their own stupidity.
Strip bed and replace pillow case. Trying to teach fitted sheet, but she's a bit too small. 10 year old can.
Help 10 year old take rubbish to container (too small to open it herself).

She had tying laces as homework (she's the only child in her class who has laces).
I taught her some first aid, bandaging etc and she loved it!

She occasionally empties the bottom of the dishwasher.

Bucket of soapy water and a sponge and clean the outside windows.

Set the table, help in the kitchen.

Tidying away toys is a losing battle here! Sorting room with lots of help.

Place marking to show 9 year old DD!

My 9yr old dd can do the dishes, chop veggies ( she has her own little knife ) make toast, dust, make a bed, run her own bath or shower and wash/condition her own hair and generally tidy up.

This isn’t because I’ve made her or asked her to, she’s one of those kids who likes to have a go, often with lots of mess at first.

I absolutely mollycoddled my oldest. He’s 17 and does very little but that’s because I’ve always done everything for him stupidly and am now having to show him things as he will possibly be going away to university next year and will be clueless.
I wish he had started a lot younger.

Dd is also good at putting her dirty laundry in the basket on the landing and keeping her room nice. She wasn’t always like this but seemed to become more interested as she’s got a bit older and it helped on her school residential in February when they went away for 3 days. Her teacher said she was very independent.

She still can’t tie her laces though.