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Original poster

What chores does your 11yo do?

13 replies

Susurrar · 09/12/2023 16:52

I’m going to show this thread to my DS who thinks he’s being seriously taken advantage of because I ask him to:
-clean his room once a week
-put his plate/cup in the dishwasher
-hoover the living room and stairs once a week
-fold/put away his washing that doesn’t require ironing

We don’t have any pets and we have a cleaner who cleans bathrooms/kitchen once a week.

What do your similar age children do around the
house?

OP posts:
contactus · 09/12/2023 16:53

you don’t even know what the responses are yet… so showing him might just backfire!

contactus · 09/12/2023 16:53

sounds reasonable to me

Original poster
Susurrar · 09/12/2023 16:55

I really don’t think it would backfire! All of these are a few minute jobs and I used to do loads more at his age.

OP posts:

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contactus · 09/12/2023 16:56

i did very little at his age!

my son does about that - but room must be fairly tidy daily. and he doesn’t vacuum (robo vac!)

fiorentina · 09/12/2023 16:57

Empty the dishwasher and tumble dryer. Keep room tidy. Clear table after eating. Put away online shopping. All of these shared with other DC.
Help in the garden from time to time. Also helps grandparents when they need it - although they tend to pay him!

sunflowertime · 09/12/2023 17:09

That's minimal and more than fair

My 1 year old

  • helps me hang up the washing (attempts)
  • put the washing in and out of the washing machine while dragging the clean washing along the floor
  • puts his dirty clothes in the laundry basket
  • take out his plate from the dinner table while dropping what's left if his food all over the floor
  • makes bed...... LOL (basically attempts to flatten his blanket and put his teddy back to bed
  • gets his own water from the water dispenser
  • puts his shoes away

-helps me tidy toys at the end of the day

Original poster
Susurrar · 09/12/2023 17:09

All this sounds sensible to me. DS is my only child, I don’t want him to do too much but I also want him to learn responsibility.
I like to gut the house before Christmas and asked for his help with a couple of extra things today and got a bit of an attitude from him. He’s very much being an annoying pre-teen..

OP posts:
OakleyStreetisnotinChelsea · 09/12/2023 17:14

Mine don't have specific weekly chores really and are aged between 11 and 17. We do expect dishwasher filling and emptying as routine after meals and when it finishes. Eg if it has been put on in the morning I expect that when they get home from school they would empty it rather than leave it until I get home from work. laundry to be put on, hung, folded etc as needed. Again just noticing stuff, so when the laundry basket it full in their bathroom to put a load on. Things like that. At the weekend if I ask for help then between the 3 of them one hoovers, one mops the hard floors after them and one goes round with the duster and does picture rails, shelves etc.

justabigdisco · 09/12/2023 17:16

Emptying dishwasher when she’s the first one home, feeding cat daily. Tidying own room and putting clean washing away.

MissBuffyAnneSummers · 09/12/2023 17:18

Putting ironing away
Polishing
Setting the table
Helping prepare some meals
Tidying up

Baircasolly · 09/12/2023 17:28

None of mine have specific chores. But I expect them to help out with most things if I ask them to (same as I help them with most things they ask me to!) Most weeks he tidies his room a bit, takes the laundry up or downstairs, helps get shopping in, stuff like that.

Alltheyearround · 09/12/2023 17:38

Daily

Make own bed
Feed and water cat x 2 a day
Hang out washing on rads to dry
Dry up pots when comes home from school
Put own dry clothes away

Hoover stairs hall living room and bedroom 1 x week
Clean kitchen and bathroom floor 1 x week
Help cook 1 x week
Help put online shop away 1 x week
Helps his dad in summer hols - gardener and gets pocket money for this.

Dad helps with some of the bigger jobs, and sometimes I do them as a favour e.g. if he's running late in the morning. I have a disability which means I am wiped out if I clean a floor, that's it for a good few hours. So he has to step up and help me/his dad. He moans, but he needs to know these things don't happen by magic and one day he will have a house of his own and need to do all this solo. Shame no-one taught my step-dad this so my mum has done everything including washing his car for bloody years. Now in her 70s (no car to wash now but does 100% of the chores).

I wouldn't wish any child of mine to be a burden to a future spouse. This is life!

He has SEN and so also has to fit in extra therapy and reading/writing/maths.
He doesn't get any work from school which helps, he's now 13 almost 14. Has been doing the above since at least 11 years old, many things before that.

Alltheyearround · 09/12/2023 17:39

Yes, tidy room! Still has a lot of toys and can create monumental mess on a sat/sun morning. LOL. He has to tidy!

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