Play-Learn-Grow-Repeat

From Wednesday Mom – Janelle:
Helping our children learn responsibility by instilling good habits early on makes parenting a little easier.  When Jack was a toddler, we made it known that cleaning up toys before bed and putting books back on the bookshelf were tasks we did everyday.  Obviously, Jack didn’t know exactly what we were doing, but demonstrating these efforts would benefit him in the future.  We sang while we cleaned up or talked about our day.  It was wasn’t anything regimented, but something we wanted to infuse in a fun way.

After several years, another child, and double the amount of “stuff” in our house, and our once-daily chore routine seemed to fade away.  I’d find myself help cleaning up just to have the stuff back out five minutes later and even more of a mess.  It got frustrating and time consuming.  The kids help when asked after several times, but my once clean routine was quickly heavily disorganized.  I am somewhat of a neat freak so I knew I had to find some order.

Now that our children are a little bit older and have learned more about responsibility, my husband and I are taking charge and assigning age appropriate chores to each of them.  We should have started this a while ago, but better late than never, right?  Both my husband and I had chores in our childhood, and I feel it’s something beneficial for the rest of your life.  It also gives the boys a sense of feeling needed by helping out.

So, what are age-appropriate chores for a six and three year old?  I’ve browsed several websites listing ideas, but just observing what we do on a daily basis is helpful.  We’ve come up with daily and weekly tasks for each child.  We even let them pick out duties they’d like to help with to make it more feasible.  A few of Jack’s chores are to make his bed, clear his dishes, put away books and toys, sort his laundry, get mail, and help collect his bathroom trash.  Some of Tate’s chores are to clean up toys and books, put clothes in his hamper, place shoes in hallway bin, light dusting, and hang his backpack on its hook.  These are just everyday things that are easy for them to take care of.  We’re not looking for perfection, but we will try to be consistent.

At this point, we decided not to exchange money for responsibility.  We want our kids to know that these are daily/weekly responsibilities and things they are supposed to do anyway.  Tate doesn’t understand what money means right now so he wouldn’t be motivated by it.  Jack is learning about money, but we don’t feel at his age he needs to be rewarded with it.  That’s what the tooth fairy is for.  However, visits to the park, later bedtime or special treats will be rewarded here and there.  It’s always nice to have something to look forward to.  Perhaps when the boys are much older and doing bigger tasks we’ll most likely introduce an allowance.  Until then, I look forward to getting extra help around the house.