Do your kids do chores around the house?

[Empress]

i like the idea of children helping with the housework, does anyone get their kids to help, and I mean really help, and how old are they? i'd love some help with the housework but little ones seem too young to do anything and lose interest after 1 minute, and teenagers spin every job out so long that it's not worth asking them! is there a perfect age somewhere inbetween that i've missed?!!

I was thinking of asking the same. My dds get an awful lot of things out and just leave them on the floor and move on to the next tidy room to trash....sooooooooo hoping to inspire them not to make so much mess in the first place I ask them to put it all back where they got it from. It takes ages, and its never done properly, and they whinge LOADS but I always make sure they do something even if the rooms still trashed when they have helped. They are 4 and 7 nearly.

Yes, they do housework. I don't pay them for it. I tell them that it is part of the way the family works. DS1 is almost 12 and can cook 3 meals, hoover, make tea, make his bed, wash up, go to Sainsburys and read stories to DD2. DD1 can hoover, cook 1 meal, make tea, make her bed, read stories. They can also do toast, chocolate milkshake, etc. DD2 can lay the table, hoover (badly), clear the table and put washing away (badly). DD1 is 10 and DD2 is 6. The twins are 5 months, but I'm sure that I can find a job for them to do too. The aim is never to have to do a household chore again, but to recline on the sofa, reading good books, drinking wine and eating chocolate.

have to say though, my kids are crap at tidying their rooms. working on that one.

ds1 (3) tidies up the toys every night before bedtime. Bless his little heart. Ds2 (1) will be drafted in when he's old enough.

I get them to help with things like polishing windows (always a mess, but they love spraying the stuff on!), hoovering and dusting. Not that it happens every week, but I try, and make it a game. They enjoy it for the most part. I do always make them put their plates beside the dishwasher, though, and am starting to get them to scrape their leftovers in the bin. They are 5 and 6.

Ok, i get the picture now .... I'm being exploited and used as a domestic slave. and here i was thinking i was just an ordinary mum. (or are they the same thing

I live with little Mr. Tidy (21m) he puts his dirty clothes in the laundry basket (and the clean ones as well if he manages to open the wardrobe), take his nappy to the nappy bin, puts the washing in the washing mashine, and sort the clothes in piles of different colours ready to be washed, he also cleans the table after eating and helps to fill and empty the dishwasher. For his second birthday I am going to teach him how to set up the washing machine and I would get tranquilizers for DH and me, who are a pair of housework disasters and don't know how to deal with a kid like this!

Your little Mr Tidy's gonna be quite a catch when he's older!

Chandra, I'll swap you Mr Tidy for DD2.

My dd is 3 and most of the time loves to be mummys little helper. She has to straighten her bedroom before we can go out fot the day, which isn't too hard as there are no toys in their other than her books a few teddies and dressing up stuff. She also helps tidy her playroom at night before bed so she can have a story. If she tidies extra quickly it means I have time for two stories.

She likes to think she helps elsewhere ( although I am not sure if help is the right word) so for example tonight she helped me gather the laundry from this morning and put it in the basket, put the ironing in the ironung basket, swept the kitchen floor with the dust pan and brush, put the cutlery from the dishwasher away and stirred dinner.

If she helps a lot we do something special togther in the morning, tomorrow we are making some jewellery. I think it is good for children to help around the house not least because it makes them realise it isn't just mummy who does housework. It also helps dd feel like a big girl, I also think kids lie to copy there parents. Ibahve also known of teenagers who are have never benn expected to do anything at home and leave home unable to look after themselves, atart early and it should be second nature,

Hi, my kids are now grown up (24, 20 and 15 - plus sole carer for 22 month old grandson). They have always been encouraged to help with the housework (boys as equally responsible as the girls). From an early age, they all had jobs allocated, and had responsibility for specific things (age appropraite, etc).
Even now, the baby likes to have a duster and a small dustpan and brush when I'm cleaning and he knows 'tidy-up-time' - as soon as he hears that phrase, he helps to pick up all his toys and put them away. He also likes a damp cloth and attempts to wipe the table, when I'm cleaning up after his meals. My advice, get 'em started early - don't discourage them, and if things are not done to your standard, don't let them know. The two oldest now have their own homes (one just gone today), and can do absolutely anything. I look at friends kids and many of them can't do anything for themselves, because they weren't 'encouraged' to take responsibility whilst growing up.
As teenagers, my eldest (third one just started this) deliberately spun things out and took forever, simply because they she that I'd get frustrated and take over whatever she had to do. Soon cottoned on to that ploy and the second one didn't get away with it - nor will the third.

My two eldest kids help around the house - ds (9) helps an awful lot and dd (7) a fair bit. Ds2 (3) is just starting to put away his Duplo, trains etc. The 2 eldest kids tidy their rooms, hoover, pop round to the shops if I run out of milk/bread/cat food, DS walks the dog regularly, they fetch and carry from upstairs to down and help to look after their little brother. I'm not saying they always do it with good grace or as well as I would, but they are pretty good on the domestic front. Actually, I'm quite proud of them

my 14 year old emptied the bin and will in an hour or so put the bags out for the binman - mucky job i detest. i have 11 yr old twins and all of them will wash dishes if i ask - i dont care how long it takes - i watch tv - its only harming htem if they strop n wash.

they do their own bedrooms on pain of death

and usually i ask ds(11) to do landing and stairs - as he doesnt mind that job ( he sees it as the lesser of many many many evils his mother could bestow upon him) i get dd to do bathroom ( not inc toilet) i scream at the nearest to me at the time to clear the table ready for tea.

the washing up usually contains plates and bowls only - i do the pans knives and forks and they dont do it every night.

friday night is " i am not cooking ive worked all week so sod off" night

so they make themselves anything from beans on toast to tuna pittas. or even pizzas

i think i am euiping them with life skills plus i dont have to pay them or think about their NI contributions

Dds aged 7 and 6, tidy their room each night, and make their packed lunches for school next day. No shop here, but they do go round to the neighbour's to buy eggs. In addition, I ask them to help put the washing in the washer, hang it on the drier (or help me put it on the line). Golly, I thought they did more than that! However, they do it with good grace (apart from their room tidying!!) and we are working on building up the chores.

lol custardo at your Friday night scenario!

God

I have just spent nearly an hour mucking out dd's room. And I mean muck, you could not get across the floor.

She woke up in the night, screaming that her mouth was bleeding and I had to stand on a chair to reach her (in her hi-sleeper), could not get to the ladder.
I found about 10 penguin bar wrappers, and loads of sweet wrappers, the kids have been told no sweets upstairs, and make up everywhere.

Mine hardly do anything around the house, not without being nagged and I am fed up with it.
Can anyone offer any strategies for improvement.

Felt really guilty the other afternoon. Our kitchen table was, as always, full of c**p I can't bear to part myself from. DDs had both agreed they'd wanted to do collage, and as dd1 was moving stuff I said 'Wait for Mummy!' She replied, 'I was only trying to help'

Oh I'm interested in this too. My 7 yo does very little and I've been thinking of a chore rota for him. He won't like it but hey, never mind, I think it's about time he started helping us.

My dd 3.5yrs will set the table for me, and when she has finished her dinner or drink will take it to the sink. Setting the table coz she likes to count, how many peole are eating etc, and also we have a deal if she helps me tidy away i have more time to spend with her after. I don't make her she likes to help. My niece 12and nephew 14 do nothing, nephew won't even put dinner on his plate expects his mum to and take plates to the sink wash up and arhhh make their bed you are having a laugh... and my sil becoz she likes doing it for them...... MUG

Used to use a star chart when my kids were little. They were each allocated a specific task/chore to be done on a particular day or time (am/pm, etc). Once completed, they would get a star. At the end of the week, stars were counted up and rewards were acheived according to a scale of the number of stars achieved (not mega expensive rewards, but things like, staying up n extra hour, an extra trip to the local park, a trip into town, etc. They all loved it and did more than they were expected to just so they could get more stars.

I find inviting friends round helps. If a visit in happening, it gives me a both a goal and a deadline to make the house look decent. This rubs off on my oldest son (10) who will hoover, polish, make his bed etc. However, he only works if I am working too. Haven't got the lying on the sofa while children do housework thing sussed yet!

I firmly believe in getting kids to do chores. My 3 older ones (11,9,6) all have to tidy their own rooms, ie. pick everypiece of !=#*## off the floor, books/toys back on right shelves,etc. They have been encouraged to carry empty plates to dishwasher from an early age, put away toys in the playroom BEFORE it becomes a bombsite, put dirty clothes in laundry basket,etc. My 9 yo seems to be at a particularly "willing to please "stage. He enjoys putting a wash on,eg. all the school uniforms on a Friday night, or all the swimming kits if we've been doing that. They can all set the table, and the 9 and 11yo are allowed to use the toaster to make family toast at weekends, since aged about 8.
None of this saves me hours of time tbh, but it does teach them important skills. I think there is something deeply unattractive about great big teenagers unable/unwilling to fend for themselves at even the simplest level. My sil does everything for her 13 and 16yo boys. We had a big family houseparty about 18m ago. I was shocked at how they just left plates on the table, clothes lying everywhere etc. for ME TO DEAL WITH[ANGRY].

ds is 5. He is supposed to tidy away whatever he has been playing with at the end of the day, or before we go out. He often strops, and says 'there's too much' I need help, but generally it gets done.

He can take away his plates, cups etc after a meal, and sometimes helps empty the dishwasher. He sometimes helps sort dirty laundry. He xcan carry it downstairs for me, and often does.

If he wants to get dressed/undressed downstairs then he has to take is dirty clothes up afterwards.

We don't seem to achieve much this way with him, but aftert reading this thread, I'm planning a change of regime.

DD, 3.8, tidies all her toys away at 7ish when the Emmerdale music comes on, (They all fit nicely behind the settee so she doesn't have far to go ) and i hoover quickly as i like it neat on a night.
She also feeds the dog, (he's fed dry biscuits from a huge plastic bin so thats her job every night).
She also loves to help me dut, especially when she finds the big feathery duster thing!