What do your children around age 10-12 do for their chores? DD has it quite easy and complains that she has so much to do. I know that this is not the case. Could you give me an idea of what your dc do for their chores?

I have never made mine do chores. There will be plenty of them to do after they leave home.

Mine help out with all sorts of jobs around the house. I have a 7th, 4th, 2 yo, and 5 month old, so I NEED help to make the house run smoothly right now. And then most days things are still a mess.

Some of the things they help with:
fold clothes
unload dishwasher
load dishwasher
pick up toys
clean their rooms
feed animals
sweep


I was paying someone to clean every two weeks, but dd (7th) wants to do some of it so I decided to pay her ( a much smaller amount) to do it. I couldn't afford to keep the cleaning lady.

My 11 yo (12 in January) doesn't really have set chores other than taking care of her room and pets. BUT she is capable of doing anything around the house that I can do, and if she's asked, she's expected to do it. Her favorite job is cooking, so there are alot of days, that's what she does for me. We're having ham and beans for supper and she has made the cherry pie for dessert and is now working on cornbread (no, we aren't in the south ;o) ). She knows how to do laundry, clean house, do dishes, work in the garden or whatever. We just work together on whatever needs to be done.

HTH :o)

My dc are capable of doing laundry, dusting, sweeping, unloading/loading dishwasher, cooking, toilets-almost anything. I also don't feel a kid should have a lot of chores to do, although I do think it's important for them to know how to do them for when they're older. I usually just ask them to do one thing a day-takes maybe 5-10 min. I want them to enjoy being kids. You only get to be a kid once and it goes by so fast.

I am all for chores. I think it teaches tons of responsiblity. I think a 5 or 6 yr old can learn to keep their room clean. When my dd was going to a community college she was shocked that their were girls that couldnt even do their laundry. They should know this by college. It just a thought. Just dont overload them with tons of chores. I think kids can and should do some. IMO!

Thanks for the input. Right now, my dd only really empties the dishwasher in the morning besides keeping her room tidy. She also is expected to vacuum the house on Saturdays (1000 squ. ft. house). That's pretty much the extent.

My DS6 and DS11 both do two chores a day. The chores are different for each, based on their age. I think that it teaches responsiblity that the whole family is responsible to take care of the house, not just Mom and Dad. I too, believe in letting children be children, but on the other hand, I want my sons to grow up being adult men that are responsible, and able to take care of themselves and others. I say this because DH was not brought up this way, as an only child whose mother did EVERYTHING for him. He came to me with little "how to live" knowledge, ie cooking, housecare, etc. Thankfully, he is also a pleaser, and was not afraid to pitch in to help me, but just the stories of what his mother did for him, I am aghast! I also know I did very little around my own home growing up, and boy was I lazy. I also do not think I had any respect for what my mom did, nor thought about any effort she put into our house.

Their chores are not hard, nor time-consuming, but are helpful to me. DS11 often cleans the toy room/loft (ie pick up toys), vacuums, organizes shoe pile, organizes movies (they tend to get scattered), unloads dishwasher, garbage in/out, cleans his own room, cleans his own bathroom (wipes down sink area, and picks up floor)things like that. Again, nothing that is hard, and most days, both boys are done with their chores in 20 minutes or less. In my mind, it's not so much WHAT they do, as the fact that they are learning to DO.

I also pay an allowance, which can be cut if attitude about chores is not willing. So it all goes hand in hand.