Chores are great for your children! They teach your children how to function once they are out on their own, they teach responsibility, they give your children a sense of pride and accomplishment and they foster a sense of family and teamwork!
Chores are a necessary part of life so the sooner you start to teach them the more grateful your children (and you) will be (they don’t know this yet 🙂 The key to success is to assign age appropriate chores. Chores should match a child’s physical and motor development and be safe. The brief list below should help to get you started:
Ages 3-5
Dust with a hand puppet sock
Pick up their toys (make this fun by having them “race” against the timer or sort the items by color)
Pick up and deposit laundry into baskets
Clean their rooms
Ages 6-8
Collect inside trash into a large bag
Make beds
Carry Laundry baskets to laundry room
Set and clear the table
Ages 9-12
Empty and fill dishwasher/wash dishes
Rake leaves/shovel driveway
Wash the car
Fold and put away laundry room
Ages 13-17
Mow the lawn
Take garbage cans in and out to curb
Clean bathrooms
Operate washing machine and dryer
Prepare meals
You can pick one day a week (we grew up doing most of our chores on Saturday mornings and that still works for us) and/or they can be an ongoing responsibility (garbage cans every Tuesday, set table every night). And don’t forget to reward, reward, reward! Set up a sticker chart for younger children that allows them to earn a special treat or outing. Older children can receive check marks to earn and determine the amount of their allowance (this is a great lesson about working hard to earn money as they get older).
This link has great free custom chore charts that you can print out to get you started:
http://www.dltk-kids.com/type/printable_chorecharts.htm
*Warning – there may be a little whining when you get started and each chore may not be performed “perfectly” but that is okay – teach, be consistent with your expectations, be patient and then let it go…
Patient Parenting 101 
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