Kids Can Help with Family Cleaning

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Kids Can Help with Family Cleaning | Family Economics

Recently, while on a mother-daughter trip with my oldest daughter, she nicely informed me it was time that the two youngest members of our family take on a few more family chores. Her reasoning was that they were getting older and were very capable of doing more if we would teach them. I got to thinking about her suggestion and I realized I had not been teaching them as I had the older three. She was right – it was time to teach the next two in line.

As I mentioned in Tips for Delegating, I needed to start delegating more of the chores around the house, so I created a list of chores that our kids can do working alongside us as we begin the training process.

Here is an example of the chores I delegated:

Laundry Folding:
• Mom – Wash clothing, fold clothing, assist in putting away
• Kids – Sort laundry, fold towels and match socks, carry laundry bin to rooms and put laundry away

Kitchen Cleaning:
• Mom – Before dinner mom prepares meal, after dinner mom stores all leftovers
• Kids – Before dinner kids set kitchen table, after dinner kids clear table and place dishes in dishwasher

Bathroom Cleaning:
• Mom – Wipes bathroom counters and sink out
• Kids – Pick up towels and clothing left behind

Lunch Packing:
• Mom – Make sandwiches, cuts up fruit or veggies.
• Kids – Pack drink, chips, snacks and napkin

Dusting:
• Mom – Dust furniture and shelves
• Kids – Dust baseboards and windowsills

Floors:
• Mom – Mop all hard surfaces
• Kids – Vacuum all carpet surfaces

What family chores can you let go and have your kids do?

1 Comment so far

On Thursday, May 12, 2011, Jessica from Gig Harbor wrote

I have my son empty all of the small garbage cans in the house into the big garbage can. Then he and I work together to haul the big garbage to the curb on collection day. Someday he'll be big enough to do this one on his own.

Thank You

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