Helping in the house - is this enough?

[rainydaysamonday24]

Please don’t list 10 things and make me feel like a failure 😞 🤪😜😌
my DS is now 7 and has the following helping around the house ..

emptying the cutlery tray for dishwasher

#making his bed

emptying school bag and making sure lunchboxes are empty

#putting clean clothes away in laundry pile.

i met some mum friends yesterday and they said their kids do heaps more and that my DS isn’t doing far enough! Their kids don’t need to be asked etc…

what else can I get DS to help with and how do I make it so it’s not about chores , getting paid for actually helping!!!

help! It’s causing a bit of tension as I did have to ask several times for cutlery tray to be emptied yesterday after dinner!!

You’re going to get every answer from ‘my child works 24/7 and should be grateful’ to ‘my 18 year old does nothing because i like it that way’.

Do what is best do you and your child, what you think is taking steps to developing your child’s independence.

if it’s causing tension, don’t discuss it.

My 6 year old has the following:

Clean school shoes weekly (she loves doing this, makes a god awful mess but it’s a good life skill)

Make bed daily
Open curtains daily (she would never open them otherwise)
Put dirty laundry in basket and clean clothes away
Feed the chickens & collect eggs
Feed the cats
Pick up fallen apples (seasonal and obviously quite specific for us as we have a small orchard)

I don’t do anything with dishwasher yet as she can’t reach to put anything away.

The animal feeding is supervised as obviously need to make sure it is done and they are given the right things.

That's about right in my house.
Also stuff like take glass jars outside to the recycle box.
Get siblings yogurts etc
Set table occasionally.
Clear table usually.
Load/unload entire dishwasher occasionally.

Occasionally - maybe 3/4 times a week

9 and 7 and they don't have any spec8f8c chores. They put their dirty clothes in the laundry and otherwise do this ad got as and when asked. So will tidy up when asked, fetch cutlery etc. Older one is interested in cooking so helps with that sometimes.

For me it's about general mucking in and being willing to do what's asked rather than creating a list of jobs which would itself just be another task for me.

Gosh this has made me think! My 12 and 10 year olds are out of the house from 7.30am-5.15pm at school, then it’s homework, dinner, music practice and any evening clubs/activities they have, so they don’t actually have any regular chores (no time!). They’re expected to keep their bedrooms tidy, put their dirty clothes in the washing basket and pitch in when asked (eg at the weekends we’ll have an hour long tidy up session where everyone helps out) but that’s it.
My 6 year old is disabled so regular chores are hard to implement. He is asked to help tidy his toys away at the end of the day but that’s it.

Mine asked to have jobs specifically for pocket money but yes agree they should just pitch in as part of. DD will do most things when asked (with a bit of occasional moaning) but the specific chores were just in exchange for her £10/month on her debit card. She’s an only child and only grandchild so is always a bit at risk of overindulgence and grandad gives her money on top of what I give.

Thank goodness 😅
this has made me feel so much better…
he does like to help if I ask…and the other day enjoyed putting all the paper and cardboard into the recycling bin.
so could add that in…
making the bed doesn’t always go to plan…

That sounds perfectly fine for that age! I would maybe add things like setting and clearing the table, and helping load the dishwasher. Also, putting dirty clothes into the basket.