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What to expect 10 year olds to do round the house...

90 replies

eqpi4t2hbsnktd · 30/04/2025 14:26

A friend said her kids do all the laundry... start to finish. I tried this with my kids it lasted one wash and I nagged the hell out of them. Back to me doing laundry.
What reasonable house tasks can I get them to take ownership of?

OP posts:
Lavenderandbrown · 01/05/2025 13:21

At 10?
put clothes in dirty laundry
hang towel on hook
close lid of loo and flush everytime
keep school/ sports items together and in mud room
empty dishwasher
put pillows back on couch and blankets away (not necessarily folded just away)
get up with alarm and start getting ready

its a long process training up a child to be independent. I should add I’m USA and 10 to me is very young (as is 18) and we did very little growing up as my sahm owned the house it was her kingdom and my DS and I both keep spotless homes and db is pretty tidy for a single man who owns animals and a farm.

DaisyChain505 · 01/05/2025 13:32

eqpi4t2hbsnktd · 01/05/2025 12:46

My DP doesn't do all this and he is 47...
I've failed...

Wow this is more shocking than your original post.

Why is a fully grown adult now doing the bare minimum to contribute to keeping his own home running?

eqpi4t2hbsnktd · 01/05/2025 13:43

EilishMcCandlish · 30/04/2025 21:53

I can't remember where this list came from, but I saved it for the sheer comedy value of anyone thinking 10 year olds were capable of wilderness survival, amongst a host of other batshittery!

Fill the car with gas at 9?

OP posts:
eqpi4t2hbsnktd · 01/05/2025 13:45

DaisyChain505 · 01/05/2025 13:32

Wow this is more shocking than your original post.

Why is a fully grown adult now doing the bare minimum to contribute to keeping his own home running?

I was kind of joking... he does his bit but can also be a bit useless. Maybe it's him I need to be working on and leave the kids alone!

OP posts:
ObelixtheGaul · 01/05/2025 13:47

As a child at that age, my jobs were washing the breakfast pots, setting the table with Dsis, Dsis and I were on drying up duty after dinner, hoovering and dusting lounge once a week, and of course my own room.

I've got to say, the only bit I resented was my room. It wasn't a communal area, and I really didn't see what difference it made to anyone else if my bed wasn't made in the morning or my books/toys were out. I didn't break things, stuck to the house rule of no food in the bedroom, etc, but found the massive dramas over my room OTT, to be honest. If I had scrawled on the walls, or left mugs to grow entire civilisations in there, fair enough. If stuff got broken because I was untidy, fair enough. But none of that was the case, so I guess I was guilty of being nagged about it because I just didn't get the problem.

Would it have been easier if I had just done it? Well, yes, but it was the one bit of the house that was my space. Yes, it was my parents house, but I didn't damage the walls, or break the things they bought me. I just wanted to be comfortable in just one room.

I never had kids, so will always wonder if I would have understood the issue if I had kids, or if my mother and I were simply two different people. Which we still are, 40 years on, my version of tidy still isn't hers, but when she comes round I do my best to ensure she's comfortable in it).

wandered off the point a bit, there, sorry.

TranceNation · 01/05/2025 13:53

Keep bedroom tidy
Put laundry in the linen basket
Put toys away from living room
Take plates, cups etc to the kitchen ready to be washed up after use

Ca55andraMortmain · 01/05/2025 14:03

DD is nearly 10. She makes her bed, puts her dirty clothes in the wash basket, cleans the table after meals and empties the dishwasher. She can do all of this well but needs a lot of reminders which is infuriating. I would like for her to take responsibility for changing her bedsheets and hovering her bedroom as.well - I think these will introduced during the summer holidays! Dd7 does fuck all - every single thing is a massive fight with her. She'll grudgingly carry her dirty dishes.to the kitchen but that's it.

Namechangelikeits1999 · 01/05/2025 14:08

EilishMcCandlish · 30/04/2025 21:53

I can't remember where this list came from, but I saved it for the sheer comedy value of anyone thinking 10 year olds were capable of wilderness survival, amongst a host of other batshittery!

My 11 year old is more capable of wilderness survival than putting clean pants on 😂

DaisyChain505 · 01/05/2025 14:11

eqpi4t2hbsnktd · 01/05/2025 13:45

I was kind of joking... he does his bit but can also be a bit useless. Maybe it's him I need to be working on and leave the kids alone!

It shouldn’t be one or the other. Everybody lives in the house so everybody should be pulling their weight. (age appropriately)

queenofthesuburbs · 02/05/2025 12:07

eqpi4t2hbsnktd · 01/05/2025 12:46

My DP doesn't do all this and he is 47...
I've failed...

I'm sorry but what 2-3 year old mows the lawn 😂I think this is a spoof

purpleme12 · 02/05/2025 12:08

🤣

EleventyThree · 02/05/2025 12:20

My 10yo:

  • Puts out the food waste bin weekly and cleans it after
  • Makes sure his room is tidy (not always smooth sailing with this one...)
  • Puts away clean laundry
  • Feeds pet (cleans out enclosure occasionally when I can be bothered having the argument...)
  • Sets the table occasionally
  • Puts away dirty dishes and rubbish (this sound obvious but my DH was raised by parents who collect all of the dishes and kids' rubbish around the house... not a pattern I'm willing to perpetuate...)
  • Occasionally sweeps, mops, hoovers... usually only if he's after extra pocket money

In the next year or two I'd like to introduce basic cooking skills. He can already peel and chop veg and do some baking without much help.

I'm not bothered about making the bed every day. His preference really.

HamptonPlace · 02/05/2025 14:28

WhiskyandWater · 30/04/2025 17:19

Well we still iron things, school shirts and bedding for DCs, bedding and things that don’t hang well for me and DP. Although I don’t do it, I’m lucky enough that my lovely cleaner does it as part of her job when she comes. I’d still iron the same things if I wasn’t able to have her though. I find if I don’t have things ironed I look a mess.

My goodness you're very committed! Although already tapering off already since the 'peak-ironing' of the 80s, i thought the pandemic had nearly killed off the industry (aside from those office workers whom still have to wear formal attire). I stand corrected! :) (childrens' sheets though... who ever sees them?)

WhiskyandWater · 02/05/2025 15:34

HamptonPlace · 02/05/2025 14:28

My goodness you're very committed! Although already tapering off already since the 'peak-ironing' of the 80s, i thought the pandemic had nearly killed off the industry (aside from those office workers whom still have to wear formal attire). I stand corrected! :) (childrens' sheets though... who ever sees them?)

😁 bedding is about it being nice to get in to ironed sheets not who sees them 😂 thankfully only me and DP see ours rather than me having a lot of night visitors who inspect them!

HamptonPlace · 02/05/2025 16:20

WhiskyandWater · 02/05/2025 15:34

😁 bedding is about it being nice to get in to ironed sheets not who sees them 😂 thankfully only me and DP see ours rather than me having a lot of night visitors who inspect them!

i presume you iron every day then 😂We're nearing the end of our night visitors just thought about recently (aside from the dog!) so cherishing them while i can 😢Either way, no ironing happening here- the cat and dog hair alone would make it insane!

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