Appropriate Chores for 8 Yr Olds and 5 Yr Olds

Well because they are both so young, i think if they have their own rooms then they should clean them. Maybe folding laundry, dusting, empty the garbage...

Thats all i can think of right now
hope it helps. Good luck!

I have 3 ages, 2, 3 and 5 I made up a chore chart for ALL 3 of them. the 5 year old of course had a little more, but the charts worked good for us.... see they always wanted to clean with me but not what i wanted them to do..... so basically the chores were: clean up toys, pick up clothes, then they went up for the older ones, empty bathroom trash, put laundry by the washer, clean room, make bed, homework.... i made the charts colorful and placed "treats" as a rewards.... stay up late, movie night, etc........ i color cordinated them to where one thing was done daily (homework, make bed) and others were scattered throughout the week (trash, laundry,etc).... it helped with my kids and now i dont even have to use them, they do it all on there own sometimes a little please do this, but they do it without arguing.

I have 3 kids. My boys are nearly 8 & 6 and my daughter is only nearly 3.

This is what I have my kiddos do and I don't believe it's ever too early to have them help! LOL

My 8 & 6 yr old BOTH...

Clean their own rooms (I do not do it).
Take out the trash
vaccum the floors
Help with setting and clearing dinner table by putting dishes in the sink.

They will help dad with cleaning the garage or basement when needed. But that's pretty much all they do.

Now, my nearly 3yr old...

We are having her help put dishes away in the washer. Honestly her thing is to put the forks and spoons away and she LOVES it!

She will help to pick up her toys and put them back in her toy box as well.

She tries to vaccum and we let her.

All kids will help to bring groceries into the house as well!

I do have a chart. They get different colored stars for what chore they did. Each star is worth X amount.

They get a star for brushing teeth, making bed (as good as they can at that age), basically being good and showing respect, helping when needed etc...

They earn their money and they each have a money box. On average they earn about 10 to 15.00 each month and then they take their money to the store and I have them purchase their toy. I've noticed they take better care of their toys when they buy them!

Hi J.,
I have 4 children the oldest two are 7 and 5 and I make them clean up and help out around the house. Here is what I know they can do. In the living room they both work together to get the floor cleaned up putting all the toys and books away, picking up the trash and dirty clothes too, then the oldest can vaccuum the floors and then younger using a hand vac does the stairs. I have them both set the table for dinner and clean up the table after dinner helping scrape plates and putting dishes in the sink. In the bathroom they both clean up the sink/counter and the floor, and the oldest can clean the toilet with my supervision and the younger swiffers the floor and straightens the shower up. They both can make their beds and clean up their room too. I make them put their laundry away after I've washed and folded it and they know that they have to put clothing neatly in the correct drawers. They can also feed the dogs and cats, swiffer the kitchen floor, dust using the swiffer dusters, wash walls/doors, put the dvds away, if there are smaller trashes around the house they can gather those and put them in the large trash can for my husband to take out. I also make the clean up after themselves during the day as they play and make messes. I hope this helps, good luck!

C.

I have 2 daughters (one is almost 8 and the other is 5). They have daily chores which include: make beds (I have to help sometimes), clean rooms, clean play room, brush and floss teeth, get backpacks ready for school. I have a marble jar that we put marbles in at the end of the day. They get one marble for each chore they do, they lose a marble for fighting or not listening, also for saying "taboo" words like hate or stupid. We put 3 lines on the jar with 3 activities that they chose. When we fill the jar up to the line, they get to do the designated thing. So far, it's working pretty well. Good luck to you!

Hi J.,

I am a single mother of 2 children. I am 33 yrs old. My kids ages are 14 and 10 yrs old. I got my kids helping with chores at the age of 3 yrs old. Being a busy single parent, they can help with what they are capable of.
Ask them, hey kids: Can you please bring me your dirty clothes? And let me show you how to start a load of laundry. Then after a few months of them knowing how to run the washer with a load of laundry then next comes teaching them how to run the dryer. Then so on. I got my son to rake leaves at age 3 as well. I let them know it can be fun and they are helping mommy and then after they are done they get free time or outside time with a friend. About 7 or 8 yrs old my daughter could wash and dry a load of laundry when I asked her to. My son would still watch and learn and help and at the same age, around 8 yrs old, he knows how to wash and dry a load of laundry. the key is repitition. I never used a chore chart. I simply told them that if they don't help Mommy then nothing gets done around the house and I can't do it all by myself and "I need your help"and this is thier home too and they need to help. This also gives them a sense of responsibility and kids crave that even though they don't think they do. Then they see that WOW I need to help my mom or nothing gets done and then I get free time.
This is how I have always done it. The younger your children are and the sooner the better. This has been successful for me and I hope it becomes successful for you.

We have a chore chart for our 7 and 5 year olds. The daily chores are:
1. Before-School Chores (make bed and tidy up stuffed animals on the bed)
2. After-School Chores - (clean out backpack, including water bottles and lunchbags)
3. Before TV show tidy-up. (they get one TV show at 5 pm and all their toys have to be put away and room tidy before that happens)
Then I have 6 packs of mini post-it pads on the wall on which I write a list of 6 chores available for that day. For example, vacuum kids bedrooms, dust all blinds, wipe down both bathrooms, feed the pets, windex the sliding door. They like to be able to pick their chore, and even the 4 year old has no trouble with any of these. On Sunday night, if they did all their daily chores, and the 7 additional chores, they get an allowance. They seem to enjoy keeping up with this and especially love their allowance. It's certainly made life a lot easier for me - even though I still have to supervise them.

They can do simple chores. Clean the table after dinner, take out the trash. Have the younger one, if you have trash cans in bathrooms and such, gather the trash from those rooms and the older child empty the main trash. The older one can start to sweep the kitchen after dinner. If you have any pets they can feed them, brush them, clean up after them. I hope this helps.

M y children at ages 5,7, and 9 do a lot around the house. They all fold and put away their own laundry, clean their own rooms, clean their shared bath, 9- cleans the tub, 7 cleans the toilet, 5- cleans the sink, the younger two unload the dishwasher and the olest loads it and takes out the trash. The older two also know how to do a load of laundry from start to finish. They also help dust, vacuum and clean glass. I think at the ages of your children they can help with just about anything as long as you have showed them how quite a few times and as long as you are prepared to redo a lot of it until they get better. I also nver did any charts. We have just always told them that this is the family house and it needs the whole family pitching in to make it work.

We have 5 year old boy/girl twins that are very energetic. Here is what they can do and do without asking:
clean their rooms
help with vacuuming
put their dishes in the sink. They will wash the dishes if we get the water in the sink ready.
put clothes in the washer and dryer
put their clothes away in their drawers
make their beds
help shovel the snow (they have their own shovels)

They like to help cook
Our daughter helps with preparing their breakfast, lunch and snacks

We do have to ask them every now and then to pick up their toys, get excess paper off the floor when they have been drawing during the day and going from room to room.

I wish you the best of luck.

I think at 5 picking up toys,dirty clothes and putting the in the hamper, maybe helping feed a pet is very age apropiate. The 8 year old should understand that maybe the younger bro. or sis. can't handle what a BIG boy/girl can do! My children are 6,8,14, and 18, they all have chores we bicker, but they get done.