Age Appropriate Chores for Your Child

We’ve all seen those sweet moments—whether it’s in a video or real life—when an adult is doing some form of work and their child is putting every ounce of effort into helping them. Maybe they’re doing age appropriate chores like putting away their toys, or perhaps biting off more than they can chew by trying to do heavy lifting. While these moments are heartwarming and sometimes hilarious, they’re much more than that. In addition to being cute, those kids are learning some great habits!

Studies have shown that children who partake in chores around the house in their early years grow up to be more responsible and self-sufficient because of these habit-forming behaviors. If you want to encourage that drive to help you out, introducing chores that are suited to their age can have a profound impact on the family dynamic and their future.

Benefits of Assigning Age-Appropriate Chores

We’ve already mentioned that forming habits around doing household chores can help a child’s future, but there are plenty of other benefits as well!

Life Skills

These are more than just tasks that your child happens to feel like doing—they’re lessons in life skills. When a child performs a chore, they’re learning responsibility, time management, and problem solving. These are all important aspects to their growth and development.

Self-Esteem

Have you ever seen the look of joy on a child’s face when they know they’ve done something good? In that moment, their confidence is getting a huge boost. Every accomplishment (even the tiny ones) helps them build their self-esteem. They experience a sense of achievement when they complete a task, which leads to a desire to perform more complex ones.

Family Contribution

Teamwork makes the dream work, and there’s no better team than family! When children take part in household chores, they get a great idea of how their efforts help the family function. This helps them feel like they belong, and lets them know that contribution is an essential aspect of life.

Chores for Toddlers (Ages 2–3)

Now it’s time to get into the chores! If you want to encourage that helpful spirit your child is trying to let out, here are some tips for the toddlers. At this stage in life, chores should be kept to the basics of the basics. All toddlers want to do is have fun, so task them with things they’ll just see as another activity. Here are some examples:

• Putting toys away
• Dusting low surfaces
• Taking their dishes to the sink
• Feeding the family pets

We all know that kids at this age require constant supervision, and chore time is no different. It’s true that your toddler doing chores will only yield minimal helpful results—you often have to stop what you’re doing to watch them, after all—but it sets the stage for their budding sense of responsibility!

Chores for Preschoolers (Ages 4–5)

At ages 4 and 5, you can start implementing more complex (but still relatively simple) tasks. Their brains and motor skills have developed more now, so they’re capable of understanding more detailed instructions and carrying them out. So what are some examples of chores you can assign at this stage?

• Making their beds
• Watering the plants
• Setting the table

At this stage, it’s still important to incorporate fun into household chores. Setting the table, for instance, can be turned into an entertaining game of matching and counting!

Chores for Early Elementary (Ages 6–8)

Now that your child has grown a little more, here are some more ideas for chores that they’ll be more than capable of doing. These tasks take a little more focus than the ones we’ve previously discussed, which helps them feel more accomplished:

• Folding laundry
• Clearing the table
• Sweeping the floor

Now is also a good time to establish a schedule for doing chores. Daily chores for kids help them understand their responsibilities a little better, and lets them know they don’t have forever to get them done.

Chores for Older Elementary (Ages 9–11)

Your child is about a decade old now! That’s a mind-blowing thing to think about, for sure. As you know, with older age comes more responsibility, so here are some age appropriate chores for them:

• Loading the dishwasher
• Taking out the trash
• Helping with meal preparation

Now is when you should be encouraging your not-so-little ones to take the initiative and make choices around their tasks. Giving them choices as to how to complete their tasks gives them a sense of autonomy and helps them further develop their problem-solving skills.

Chores for Preteens and Teens (Ages 12+)

It’s time for the advanced tasks! You’re raising preteens and teens now, so the training wheels should be coming off and you should be noticing a substantial uptick in chores they can really help with in a big way like:

• Mowing the lawn (finally!)
• Doing the laundry
• Helping out with grocery shopping

All these things prepare them for full-fledged adulthood. They’re learning important skills related to managing a household, budget their time and resources, and be overall self-sufficient.

Tips for Success

We know all of this is easier said than done, so here are a few tips to keeping your learning children on track and making sure they’re having fun doing all these age appropriate chores:

• Clear Instruction: Being specific in what you want them to do lets them know exactly what’s expected of them. If you need to, demonstrate the chores before asking them to do them.
• Positive Reinforcement: When your child completes a chore, show them some praise or give them a reward for a job well done. This encourages them to continue helping.
• Consistency: Keeping up with a routine helps them build great habits!
• Flexibility: Be open to changes. When adjustments are needed, making them could be the difference between your child developing good habits and beginning to dislike doing chores.

Conclusion

Assigning age appropriate chores to your children brings countless benefits, like life skills and self esteem. They’re a valuable tool in establishing a sense of contribution (not to mention the ability to offload some tasks on someone else to avoid burnout). If you start a chore routine with your child now, you’ll be setting them up for success in the future. Get ready to watch them grow and become responsible!

If there are any issues (chore-related or not) that you’d like to discuss with a professional, the experienced team at Basal is ready to help! Get in touch with us and let’s help your child flourish!