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What chores do your 8 year olds do?

Pamela - posted on 06/03/2011 ( 2 moms have responded )

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What chores do your 8 year old children do on a regular basis? And, do they get an allowance?

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Trish - posted on 06/04/2011

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Mine is 9 now but he takes out the bathroom trash, empties the dishwasher, wipes down the dining room table and sometimes sweeps the floors. He also had to clean his room and trades off vacuuming the area rug with his brother.

Christy - posted on 06/03/2011

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Another mom had the same question about her 7 year old. I just posted this to her thread:

I started giving my kids an allowance about the time they're 5. I guess it depends on how old all the kids are and how much you have to budget. My kids get $1 for every year they are old. They also have three chores a day they are expected to do, sometimes more!

My youngest is 7. He sets the table, clears the table, takes out the garbage, helps bring the empty garbage bins back to the house on garbage day, washes his own laundry (I don't worry about sorting), helps put it away, (I often help fold it still), unload half the dishwasher, scrub the toilet and the bathroom mirror, wash walls, put away his toys, and feed the pets. He has older siblings that also help with these chores, so he is not expected to do them everyday.

There's a book called "WORK: Wonderful Opportunity for Raising Responsible Kids." It's a fast read and the mom that wrote it explains that you put your child in training. You teach them how the chore is done, then observe each time guiding until they can do it well, about 80% as good as you could do it. She has a huge list in the back of the book of what chores you can expect your kids to do at what ages. Honestly I have my kids doing a bit more at younger ages, but the book was a huge help to me in organizing chores for my kids!

The rule at our house is they don't get any privileges 'til their chores are done. That means no TV, computer, friends, etc. The three chores should only take a few minutes. My youngest is typically done with his in five to ten minutes. He loves his computer time, so he doesn't complain about getting his chores done! Some days he'll get up early and do his chores and then get on the computer before his older siblings wake up and hog the computer!

My allowance philosophy is that I don't buy the kids stuff at the store. If they want something, they can do extra chores to earn more money, or just save up their allowance. I neglected to mention that they receive their allowance every payday for us, which is twice a month. Whatever collections they are working on or new toy they want, they can either wait 'til birthday, or Christmas, or save up and get it them self!

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