do your kids help with the jobs around the house?!!

Hi, I got five kids age between 16 and 3 years old. At this very young age we cannot do anything thats really suit our taste. They really put us into a very uncomfortable situation. So this is the way I have already try at home. First I and my wife together we cleaned our kitchen. We work while the children are watching TV. Then I started making noise. I told them to shut down the TV and telling them to start helping their mother now saying that not to look their mother as a maid in the house. I ordered them to clean their bedroom, study room and even to wipe the staircase. I told them that to have a very tidy house makes everybody happy and healthy. They understood and from that day onwards they cleaned their bedroom, washed their own plates, clothes, iron their own school uniform etc. I think your husband should do like I do cause the children are more scared to their father rather then their mother. Good luck.

Oh, this is a topic that My kids and I have been dealing with for far toooo long! haha My kids are now 18 and 16. They are gone all the time. When I ask them to clean up "their" basement, the response is always the same..."we will mom"...and weeks later it still looks the same. When they were younger, they loved to help me around the house. I tried to make it fun. we would have races to see who could pick up all their clothes first or make their bed...etc..However, now is a different story. I know they are capable of doing it all, they just dont "want" to do it..they do their own laundry, and change their own sheets, all that...so I just dont go downstairs anymore. Eventually it will be deemed a health hazard and they will have to clean. I am currently looking for some of that yellow banner tape that says: "condemned" on it, so I can hang it in their doorways to their rooms... My advice to anyone with younger kids is to get them involved early. Otherwise, it will be a lost cause. Kinda like, teaching an old dog new tricks....lol Hugs!, Cat

[i]Hi jessica, that is a great training..I have no kids but I appreciate the way we were raised by my Parents...We were assigned a simple task at home at a young age, it starts to making up our own bed, arranging our toys and put them back to order until we were matured enough to wash dishes, clean the house, do laundry and all! And these training benefited my SIster and I a lot especially when we were about to rent an apartment in the city to study until the time we were working! We become very independent until now![/i]

My son was given chores from the time he was able to walk easily and understood me. At age 2 he had a small plastic wagon that he used to pick up his toys with at the end of the day and cart them back to his room and toy box. At age 3 I put old socks on his hands, sprayed them with Pledge and showed him how to dust the coffee tables and furniture. LOL He thought it was fun with the socks on his hands. By the age of 5 he was able to empty the small trash cans in bedrooms and bathrooms into the larger trash can. My son wasn't ever given an allowance specifically for chores though. You see in our household we ALL had to work on keeping the house clean because it was our home. That was part of living in a family home, everyone does their part. Now when he got older he was given a weekly allowance just because kids need money at times for things. But it wasn't based upon household chores. If he volunteered to do extra stuff (like yard work etc) then he earned extra money in addition to his regular allowance.

yes..im a very lucky mom..my childrens are helping me in all my works..even they are dont know about that work..atleast they are trying..:-) this will happed in my future life..this is my dream about my children..he he

My kids have to be asked repeatedly to finish one task. They are 8 and 7 and I try to enforce them to keep their room clean to no avail. I do find that they are eager to sweep the floor, vaccuum, mop, and clean windows. My eldest wants to help me cook but I just let her help with cooking scrambled eggs right now. I do need to have them clean up after themself more often so they will not have to be reminded all of the time.

I learned how to cook and clean at around the age of 7. My father had custody of us and my aunt taught me "the woman's work" around about that time. I think children who learn responsibility early work harder when they do go out in the world. My kids right now have a hat that they pick a peice of paper out of. Each little note, tells them what room to do it in and if they have questions, I show them what to do. I don't give them hard jobs, just stuff like towels off the bathroom floor, or putting the silver away from the dishwasher. My oldest who is 10, has a cool way of taking out the trash. He gets a wheel barrel and dumps the bag or bags in and takes it to the incinerator. My youngest, 5, collects the recyclables and puts them in a bag after crushing cans and what not. Start it early and let them know they are doing a good job, and give them incentives. Doing a chart on their earnings makes them work a bit harder. Kids like to be disciplined and patted on the back for good work. Hope this helps out.

Hi jessica'-I am very fortunate with mine..from very young I always taught them they had to clear their toys etc up and if they didn't they wouldn't get sweets or something so they did...even now my son is meticulous when tidying up and cleaning even around the house and if I ever complain that it is too tidy he always says 'it's your fault mum, you brought me up to be this way!!'--my daughter now has her own home and a baby but keeps that really clean and as tidy as she can...wish I could give you some more advice to help you with yours but don't really know what you can do except from saying to them they can't go and play if they don't tidy up...littleowl

In our house, I expect my son to keep his room clean and pick up after himself and that has just been the way it has been from day one. When he was small and we had a snack or drink we would both carry our glass or plate to the sink and he does it (miraculously!!) to this day. He is a typical kid and his room isn't always as clean as it should be and I have to say ok, you go nowhere and do nothing until the room is liveable. Then when he was about 9 or 10 he wanted to make some extra money for games, sports cards, etc. so we set up extra things for him to do around the house. I made a list of things I could use help with (laundry, vacumning, putting dishes in dishwasher, sweeping, cleaning bathrooms, etc.) and he picked a few extra things to do. So when he actually does those things, he gets a certain amount per week. If he doesn't do them, he doesn't get paid. Or if he only does a few things, he gets paid less, just like he would in a "real" job. He is almost 13 now, and I think it has helped and is helping him with responsibility and to realize how the working world works. Now that I am working at home, I also pay him to do some of my office jobs (like filing, shredding, etc) for extra at times too. So in the next year or so when he goes to get a job somewhere here in town, I think he will have a better idea of what is expected of him. Hope so anyway. At least it has worked for us!

Hello jessica, welcome to mylot. Firstly how old is your sons. It is good when they started learning at an early age to be responsible but if you are starting them say at age 14-15 they will be looking at you strange. What I would encourage you to do is sit them down and tell them that it is good when a boy can do every thing for him self. Don't be turn off by the looks instead stand your ground because you don't want if something to happen and you are not around then persons started taken disadvantage of them. Just have a nice little talk and show them the disadvantages and advantages of life. Kerry

yes my little 4 yrs old girl is helping me, not a perfect clean but at least she did nice things to me.she even helping me to put plates,fork and knife on the table.its a lot nicer if we trained them early to make them habbit.just like mine i always told her to arrange the barbie toys after playing coz if not she cannot play it anymore its not perfect but at least she did it.also the pajama she used to fold it every morning.its habbit you know.very seldom she follow and i am sure kids are easy to learn.

Hi jessicaboardman, I haven't got any kids to mess the house only a husband do that. Tamara

My baby is still young enough to do household chores but when he gets bigger i will sure and trained them inside the house by doing thier own laundry, washing plates, cleaning thier room and helps me in the garden. By that way, they will be responsible when they get older and not dependent to us and never be get lazy!

right now my kids are 7 and 5 and i expect them to keep their room clean. although, in the past i have gave them things to do like feed the dog, put the clean clothes away where they belong and help with dishes after dinner. i need to get back to giving them their own chores. i think it is important in teaching them responsibility. i just have to put it back into practice myself.

When my kids were little~ like 6, 4, and 2, I made a chore chart. They would be assigned chores to do at the beginning of the week. When they completed them, they would mark it off on the chart with stickers. It was easy stuff like clear your dishes from the table, bring your dirty clothes to the laundry room, things like that. As they got older, I added more chores and then they got more money. Then the rule was once a week, on Saturday, they had to clean their room. Everyone cleans their room differently, but I respect that they clean their room the way they think clean is. Now that they are teenagers and make their own money, they still clean their rooms if I ask them too. Otherwise, I just close the door and then I don't have to see it.

My son isn't old enough to do chores but I know that he will have responsibilities when he gets older. I think there are some gender chores (boys cut the grass, take out the trash while girls do dishes, vacuum, laundry) however, I do believe that there are some things both boys and girls should do like clean the bathroom and obviously keep their own rooms clean. If you don't give a child responsibilities and chores when they are younger they grow up thinking they don't have to do anything and that turns into a problem.