Our kids have chores. It may sound old fashioned, but we expect them to help out around the house.
Yesterday, Sunshine brought home the book There is No Such Thing as a Dragon (affiliate link) for her reading homework. This is the second time that she brought this book home. She knows that it is a favorite of mine (and my sisters–when we were kids, our grandmother had audiobooks for us to listen to at her house. We had a record, yes a vinyl 45, of this book being read and we knew when to turn the page because there was a sound that was supposed to be the dragon’s tail. And there was a super catchy song at the end–ahh, but that is a story for another day).
Sunshine can’t read anything without out adding lots of commentary: predictions, thoughts about characters and motivation, questions, and the like. She observes that Billy’s mom is clearing the breakfast table while Billy goes off to play. And she said to me, “Why is she clearing the table? Why isn’t Billy taking care of his own dishes?”
That is when I knew for sure that my Mom-instincts were on target. At seven (well I’m sure she’d love to point out that she is almost eight), she realizes that it is an expectation that everyone helps out around the house. Truthfully, it is one of the ways I am able to manage being a working mom and getting them to their activities.
We’re not crazy with our expectations, but both our kids help clear the table, definitely their own dishes and usually they share the duty of mom and dad’s plates and silverware. Additionally, each kid has a part of the dishwasher to empty, based on what he or she can reach. I actually can’t take credit for this one, a friend who has three children (two daughters who are several years older than my kids and a son who is in between) told me that in her house each child has a part of the dishwasher to empty based on what they could reach. I immediately had Sunshine start putting the silverware away.
She did this for about a year before she started complaining that it wasn’t fair that The Boy didn’t have to help with this one. Compromise. We decided that if she stood on a stool, she could put the plates and bowls away. Now she does the bottom rack and he does the silverware.
At five, it is taking a little more convincing to get The Boy to do it; we often have to call him back because he will have put all of one thing away (like the forks), but nothing else. Like clearing the table, there is a set time of day when we do the dishwasher: as soon as we all get home from school we do the dishwasher before anything else. (As a family of four, it is the rare occasion that we don’t run it everyday. It helps me with dinner preparations so I can clean as I go to have this done right away.)
Other chores that the kids help with:
- Feeding the chickens and collecting the eggs.
- Matching socks (I actually hate this, so it’s win-win.)
- Occasionally, folding laundry or helping with meal prep.
- Daily pick-up–hanging towels after a bath, dirty clothes to the laundry room, toys, etc.
- Vacuuming and mopping–as it turns out, each kid has a favorite, so they picked their own there.
- In season, helping with the harvest.
Is it perfect? No. The Boy definitely misses spots with the vacuum cleaner. Sometimes I have to fix the dishes, so they are in the dishwasher properly. Daddy’s socks are not always perfect matches (he has lots of white socks with only minor differences that are lost on a seven-year-old). We give constant reminders about towels, dirty clothes and picking up. Are there parents out there who don’t
But, it’s a growing process and apparently one that is worth it, because why is Billy’s mom clearing the dishes from the table? Give it a shot, you’ll be surprised at how quickly it just becomes second nature.
