What to expect from a 9 year old?

[MistletoeBUTNOwine]

Dd is 9.
What do your 9 year olds DO?
Do they have any chores? If so, what? And how much time do they spend doing them?
Do you often have friends round for them?
Do you play games with them? Cook together?

Keen to see how others parent their kids in this age group.

My dd is a bit hard work at the moment, just wants to watch minecraft videos
I want to try and engage with her more ( with 6mo DS in tow too)

Tia

7yo DD and 10yo DS do chores, they clean their own rooms, help set table for dinner, help clear up from dinner, I wash dishes, one will dry and one will put away. They help with their younger siblings who are 3, they put their washing in the laundry basket, DD makes an awesome cup of tea, they get their own breakfast - cereal or toast etc and help me make dinner sometimes too stirring things and chopping things.

Their friends sometimes come round but my kids are outdoor kids so they mostly play in the street with their friends. They prefer bikes, scooters and water pistols to being indoors - being indoors means more chores.

My DD is 9. She does basic day to day chores i.e. set the table, plates and cups tidied into dishwasher and occasionally will wash up pans etc for me. It is her responsibility to let out and feed chickens in the morning and lock them up in the evening. Room tidy, clothes in laundry basket etc, she will hoover if I ask and sweep the floor (but wouldn't think to do it without being asked). All my three (9, 7 & 5) are quite capable of getting own breakfast. Both 9 & 7 yr old can run a bath to the correct temperature (i.e. I no longer feel the need to check it before they get in) and shower unassisted. 5 yr old can too, but I tend to hang around upstairs keeping a vague eye on him as I don't 100% trust him.

9 yr old will take the dog for a walk (we live in the country so our standard walk is a 30 minute round trip through fields, no roads), in fact I'm happy for all three to go on their own, although 9 yr old has responsibility for not losing dog (or the 5 yr old!).

I let either 9 or 7 yr old (but not 5 yr old) cycle down the lane to the post box (not far) if I want a letter posting.

Cooking - she can make flapjacks on her own with no assistance and also does a good victoria sponge, she's fine at following a simple recipe, measuring etc. I don't have to assist her in putting things into the oven, or getting them out (she's fine with oven gloves) but she is liable to forget timing and overcook if I don't keep a vague eye on the time.

I don't actually play with them much I suppose, although I have been forced into one too many You tube loom band tutorials with DS recently..... I do stuff with them that we have to do - cook, go for walks. Even 5 yr old can peel potatoes and chop things (i don't let him have the sharpest knife and wince a bit as he battles with a carrot or grates his fingers on the cheese grater, but they have to learn)

Mostly they just fiddle around outside. We have friends (of one or other of them) over a fair bit, then they all just fiddle about outside (like something out of lord of the flies mostly!). My three all love mine craft too, but I'm fairly strict about the amount of time on it.

They get bored and moan. If I ignore it long enough they go away and find something to do.

DD, 9, and DS, 7, have to keep their rooms tidy. They tidy up their things downstairs. They will put their things from meals on the worktop on top of the dishwasher.

They wash up when we are camping.

DD can just about make a cup of tea.

She will walk to the post box just round the corner. I've said she could walk to the shop for a pint of milk now she's nine, it's round another corner.

They both like lego, DD loves writing stories and does that quite a lot, and loom bands! They do quite a few after school activities which doesn; t leave a lot of time for playing with me. They both like minecraft, which I limit to 1 hour a day.

We sometimes play board games together. We go on a few family bike rides.

DS is 8 with severe learning disabilities and physical disabilities.

He brings the plates to the sink for me to wash up and tidies up all his toys into the correct boxes.

We read together, do jigsaws, go for walks or to the park/ beach. Do drawings (scribbles) basically everything.

DD2 is 9.

She helps lay the table when asked and acts as a sous chef occasionally.
Weekly she collects the rubbish bin from around the house for emptying.
She also has to do 'usual' stuff like tidying up after herself.

We play board games occasionally, I help her with painting, and we go out as a family quite a lot in the holidays, e.g. today was swimming, yesterday was local NT place, day before was ice skating.

I would happily have friends round but it doesn't happen too much due to location of her main friends.

Screen time generally only towards the end of the day when other stuff has been done.