Household chores: good for children, good for your family

Children can learn a lot from doing household chores.

Doing chores helps children learn about what they need to do to care for themselves, a home and a family. They learn skills they can use in their adult lives, like preparing meals, cleaning, organising and keeping a garden.

Being involved in chores also gives children experience of relationship skills like communicating clearly, negotiating, cooperating and working as a team.

When children contribute to family life, it helps them feel competent and responsible. Even if they don’t enjoy the chore, when they keep going they get the feeling of satisfaction that comes with finishing a task.

And sharing housework can also help families work better and reduce family stress. When children help out, chores get done sooner, and parents have less to do. This frees up time for the family to do fun things together.

How to get children involved in chores

It’s best to start by choosing chores that work for children’s ages and abilities. Chores that are too hard can be frustrating – or even dangerous – and chores that are too easy might be boring.

Even young children can help with chores if you choose activities that are right for their age. You can start with simple jobs like packing up toys. Chores like this send the message that your child’s contribution is important.

It’s also important to think about chores or tasks that get your child involved in caring for the family as a whole. A simple one is getting your child to help with setting or clearing the table. Jobs like these are likely to give your child a sense of responsibility and participation.

If your child is old enough, you can have a family discussion about chores. This can reinforce the idea that the whole family contributes to how the household runs. Children over six years old can help decide which chores they’d prefer.

You can motivate your child to get involved in chores by:

• doing the chore together until your child can do it on their own
• being clear about each person’s chores for the day or week – write them down so they’re easy to remember
• talking about why it’s great that a particular job has been done
• showing an interest in how your child has done the job
• praising positive behaviour
• using a reward chart to track completed chores and give small rewards like choosing a TV program or family meal.

Plenty of encouragement keeps children interested in helping. You can boost your child’s chances of success by explaining the job and telling your child they’re doing well. This way, your child will feel rewarded.

Pocket money for children’s chores

Some children are motivated to do chores for pocket money. But some families believe all family members have a responsibility to help and don’t give out pocket money for chores.

If you decide to pay pocket money for chores, explain chores clearly so there’s no confusion or bargaining about what needs to be done and when.

Some families don’t link chores to pocket money, but might pay extra pocket money for extra chores.

Chores for children of different ages

Here are some ideas for chores for children of different ages.

Toddlers (2-3 years)

• Pick up toys and books.
• Put clothes on clothes hooks.
• Set placemats on the dinner table.

Preschoolers (4-5 years)

• Set the table for meals.
• Help with preparing meals, under supervision.
• Help put clean clothes into piles for each family member, ready to fold.
• Help with grocery shopping and putting away groceries.

School-age children (6-11 years)

• Water the garden and indoor plants.
• Feed pets.
• Help with hanging out clothes and folding washing.
• Take out rubbish.
• Help with choosing meals and shopping.
• Help with meal preparation and serving, under supervision.
• Vacuum or sweep floors.
• Clean the bathroom sink, wipe down kitchen benches, or mop floors.
• Put away crockery and cutlery.

Teenagers (12-18 years)
Teenagers can do the chores they did when they were younger, but they can be responsible for doing them on their own.

Teenagers can also take on more difficult chores. For example, teenagers could do the washing, clean the bathroom and toilet, prepare meals, stack the dishwasher or mow lawns.

When choosing chores for teenagers, think of the skills you’d like them to learn.

You can keep children motivated by letting them change jobs from time to time. This is also a way of rotating chores fairly among family members.