Hellobee Boards

I saw this the other day and thought it was great!
http://thehappyhousewife.com/home-management/age-appropriate-chores-for-kids-printable/

My 2 year old's daily chores are making his bed, putting his dirty clothes in the laundry basket, cleaning up his toys and books, and feeding the dog.

@Bao: LO is four and is surprisingly good at helping. she loves to have task especially if i break it down into 3 special steps like the cartoon.
She helps with unpacking groceries. she knows where things go especially things that are on the bottom shelfs.
she helps me sort the laundry out (whites and colors) and knows which buttons to press when its time to do it
She likes to help with cooking too just basic prep or stirring things in on the counter.

Mine will be 4 at the end of October. He feeds the cat every morning and gets her water.... Some days he doesn't want to and that's ok. He picks up his toys/mess too after playing....matching socks is a good one for the future!

My 4 year old does not have any chores but she is more than willing to be helpful when asked. She loves to help me:

Move laundry from the basket to the washing machine. And then moving clothes to the dryer

Carry the groceries in from the car to the kitchen (she can do all the light bags)

She will always help throw things in the trash or recycling. Or if she takes off clothes while downstirs (like her socks) she'll put them in the laundry room.

Help me carry things upstairs. I'm pregnant and super slow this is one thing that she can do that doesn't slow me down We buy our bath tissue and Kleenex in bulk at Costco and while pregnant it's hard for me to carry those things upstairs to our linen closet where it's stored. If I open up the package LO will carry the smaller bath tissue packs and Kleenex boxes upstairs for me.

Something small she does that I love is she puts her shoes away in our shoe cubby after she takes them off and can hang up her sweater/jacket.

Just recently we're having her clear her plate after dinner. We have a high table so it makes me a little nervous but I just remind her to get down and then get her plate down.

And she pretty good at helping us clean and tidy her play room

Eventually (maybe when she's 5) I will add more things like emptying the dishwasher

DS is 3 and doesn't have set chores but helps out around the house. Really he just likes to do what I'm doing.

He has a spray bottle that I fill with water and he will spray and wipe cupboards, appliances, doors. He helps take care of the garden, puts his toys away, helps with laundry, sweeps, helps vaccuum, unloads the dishwasher etc.

I need to get him more involved with dinner help, setting/clearing table etc.

DD is 2.5 and her chores are:
Put dirty clothes in hamper
Load washing machine and help move clothes to dryer while I hang up stuff that can't be dried
Dishes in the sink
Set utensils and napkins on the table
Clean up toys
Swiffer what she can reach
Wipe the table with a sponge
Fold her shorts and pants
Throw her trash and diapers away

She loves to help!! She says "mommy I am organized" hahahaha

@mrswin: Yes, I think you are right! wiping baseboards, cleaning windows, vacuuming cushions should not be linked to money. Those are basic chores they have to do for life. Just that I was so excited seeing them and don't you pay a cleaning lady around $100 to do all those? Hahaha. But yes, I am with you. Besides, I think he would LOVE it if I give him a spray bottle and ask him to wipe all the baseboards.

And I need to ask him to vaccum around the dinner table after dinner, because he still does make some mess, and that's something he'd like to do I imagine. I so want to ask him to help clean the table after dinner, but he eats so slow, and by the time he is done eating I'd be hushing him to take a bath and go to sleep....

I am not sure how the hanging and folding laundry = $1.5 happened.... it was something DH started when he was 3 years old? It started as $1. It was DH's way of trying to introduce the concept of money, saving money and spending money to him and that's one of the ways DS can make an allowance. Also each day if he behaves well and collects enough stars, he earns 25 cents. We have a save, give, and spend jar system and DS can decide where to put his money to. But yes, eventually we have to wean off that folding clothes = $$$... because he needs to fold his own clothes and that's a fact of life! lol

This thread is awesome!

@looch: my parents had basic expectations of us that we didn't get paid for (helping with meals and laundry), and then "extra cleaning" was how we earned chore money- washing windows, scrubbing bathrooms, vacuuming, etc. I will do something similar with DD. Anything that she gets dirty every single day doesn't need to be a paid chore, but taking some of the weekly cleaning tasks off of my hands will be a huge help. I'll probably start with allowance in kindergarten.

@looch: what about outside stuff? He could pull weeds, plant/ water flowers, pick up sticks and itchy balls, take out the trash... Older kids can mow (which is my absolute least favorite chore of all time).

@caterw: Well, he does that already and we don't pay him for those tasks either.

I like the idea of special "above and beyond" tasks, but I fall short on coming up with them.

@irene: I would just start with having him clear his own dishes if you are still facing challenges with how long it takes him to eat a meal. It only adds another minute or two before the bedtime routine starts.

@looch: @ShootingStar: The way it was for me when I was growing up was that we earned money for "jobs". We had a paper route (Sears catalogues), we would watch a neighbours pet when they were away for the weekend, etc. Even if my parents agreed to check in on the pet they would pay us for doing it.

Also we got a little bit of spending money on a regular basis, about $5 per week. My parents taught us money management that way. For example when we used to go visit my grandparents in Florida every year we would each get $50 spending money for the trip. My parents would encourage us to really think about how to spend that money. If we spent it all on stuff the first couple of days and didn't have anything left and we saw something that we wanted later in the trip they would talk to us about how we had already spent our money and that next time we should save some.

@ShootingStar: There is this great website I refer to from time to time that talks about how you can incorporate good money management habits into everyday life and it breaks it down by age. I don't have it book marked on this computer but will try and remember to post it when I am home.

On of the suggestions for younger kids is to help plan for grocery shopping. In that case you would say to your DS, this week we only have $20 to spend on snacks for school lunches, you talk about what kind of snacks he would like, how much they each cost, how many snacks are in each box, how you will shop again next week so maybe some items have to wait until the next trip, etc. It helps him learn that money is finite and we cannot have everything we want.

The other thing we plan to do is to sponsor a family at Christmas time which offers another opportunity to do something similar. Talk about how many people are in the family, make a list of things we want to get for them, how much everything costs and if we have enough in our budget to do it. If not, then we can look at if there are other way to be able to give more, maybe donating some of our own toys or books or clothes, etc.

A warning on this list and "moving clothes from the washer to dryer" - DO NOT ATTEMPT if you have stackables. My 2.5 year old wanted to help one day and I was almost done so I let him pull something out of the washer and then I lifted him up to throw it in the dryer. He LOVED it and now every time I do laundry he wants to do all the transferring, one item at a time, which is very very very hard on mommy's arms.

@looch: Good idea with the lightweight vacuum. We were just watching a Curious George episode with him getting a little handheld vacuum. Which one do you have?