Following on from my other thread, waht 'chores' do your kids do??

[singyswife]

My dd's are 5 and 7 and I have recently started working again. I cannot fit in housework etc, what do your kids do by way of housework etc.

make their beds
tidy their rooms
tidy the playroom
sometimes bit of polishing/floor sweeping

they are 6 and 4

YEah that sounds like mine/ They tidy their rooms (to their standards though), put their clothes in the wash, put their dishes in the sink and put their uniforms away/on the ironing board when necessary., They also have to tidy up toys etc if the bring them downstairs.

Mine are 4.11 and 2.2

They are both ordered encouraged to tidy their room on a regular basis

Put away when finished with something

Put dirty clothes in laundry basket (dd1)

Put the table up for meals (dd2)

Lay the table (dd1)

yes, would add that none of it is done exactly well!!!

thank God for duvets, eh?

Yeah absolutely. It wouldnt be the first time I have sent the dd's up to tidy their rooms and when it is bedtime I have pulled the duvet back to find an entire library and lots of stuffed animals. 'but mummy I didnt know you mean tidy tidy, I thought you just wanted a path to the bed' You gotta love them.

DC is 2.6 and we have tidied the toys at the end of the day since just over two, now it's pretty much routine.

DC takes coat off, with lessening help and hangs it up. Removes shoes and puts them on a rack.

Beginning, under supervision to lay the table, put rubbish in the bin.

We dust together, i hoover, DC toy hoovers, but one day...for small financial reward, DC may hoover for real!

Oh yeah, shoes in the shoe box

I hasten to add that my dc are not consistent in their application of household tasks

We live in a tip most of the time

AT least I know I am not alone in living in a tip.

DD is 9 and often empties and fills the dishwasher, hangs out and brings in washing, takes ironing upstairs and puts it away (her stuff), hoovers and dusts, always helps when I ask her to (she's that kind of girl! bless).

DS is 7 and thinks he is the King of England. He tidies his toys away under threat of the black sack (for the toys, not him), takes his ironing upstairs, hoovers, dusts.

They don't do regular chores every day but on Sunday I usually say "right who's helping so we can get to the park sooner" and they chip in.

Dd 7
Compost heap
feeds animals
tidies her room
polishing around house
fills dishwasher
Supervised ironing
Hoovering
setting table

clear the dishwasher
set the table
hang their own laundry on the drier (occasionally)
make their beds
tidy the playroom when they've had friends over
tidy after themselves generally.

They also have to hoover if they say anything about the noise of the hoover interfering with the TV.

They are 8 and 6.

dd who's 8 said last week 'Can you give me more chores to do in the house because whenever I ask can you do something with me you say 'I just have to finish this or that' and if I help you'll be able to do stuff with me sooner.'

forgot to say mine sort out the recycling and put it out in the right box too. They love that!

I've told dd1 that my role is NOT to run around after her and dd2 tidying up their mess

I tell her I am more than happy (blatant exaggeration) to help her and dd2 keep their room tidy and keep the flat mess-free but that there is NO WAY that I am doing it for them

And to her credit, I think she gets it (for now, anyway)

But I am still stunned at the mess generated by 2 small people, sometimes within a very short space of time. It's incredible

TSAP - Ironing at 7 ? Wow.

It is incredible. My livingroom is tidy right now but I know that within 10 minutes of them being up in the morning it will look like a bomb has gone off.

she only does things like pillow cases and simple t shirts jeans etc. I hover nervously throughout but she loves doing it.

It's the Bits that drive me mad

Bits everyhere, in every room, on every surface... dd1 and her art and craft Bits [scream emoticon]

Ooooh that sounds just like my house. Full of 'bits' of 'art'. It drives me bloody mad. I suppose I shouldnt complain I will have a long time without them and a long time to have a tidy house. But yes it is the 'bits' on every bloody room that drives me mad.

Indeed, SW

NNB, sounds same as dd - she is soooo prolific!

brought a statue into our room first thing this morning, that she'd made of herself - am running out of house to put all her cretins!

I have two DS's aged 11 and 9, on alternate days with each other they

1. bring the washing down
2. put waste into the bin from plates - morning

and evening

1. set table for breakfast/tea
2. on a weekend they must make their own beds

They also do other jobs as I see fit ie. if I am busy and the washing needs bringing in from outside then they have to do it when asked.

Dry and put away any crockery/cutlery on draining board.

I must get them to do more.

Mine are supposed to empty the dishwasher - they take turns between the three of them, but they do tend to forget.

They're also supposed to keep their bedrooms tidy, put their washing in the washing basket and generally tidy up after themselves in the rest of the house.

However - I seem to spend most of my life either nagging them to do the things they're supposed to do, or doing them myself.

Periodically I will go and muck out their bedrooms, and in the past we've found such gems as a hugely out of date (and very swollen) container of smoothie under ds3's bed; all ds3's clean school polo shirts under his football boots in his cupboard; ds2's entire sock collection on his floor and a dead bird in ds1's room - though I think that was a fairly recent present from the cat!!

I have wondered in the past if I was expecting them to do too many chores - but reading through this thread, it seems as if I am the softest Mum here - and that has to change!!

They won't thank mumsnet - but I will!!

sunnygirl.

when dc's room is a mess I say to them 'put away anything you want to keep and anything that's not put away will go to the charity shop or the bin'
I'm always dying to get rid of the excess so they know it's not an idle threat.

I've gone round my sons' rooms with a black binbag before now - perhaps I need to resurrect that tactic - they're really going to love mumsnet now!

sunnygirl.