Episode 76 - Age Appropriate After School CHORES to MAKE LIFE SIMPLE, Instill Responsibility & Help Mom - Intentional Edit

Having a few small daily tasks and chores for each member of the family makes it possible to keep your home picked up and orderly. Chores save time, instill responsibility and so much more. Episode 76 of The Intentional Edit Podcast is overflowing with ways that adding chores for a few minutes each day is a big contributor to simplifying home and life.

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Full Episode Transcription (not edited):

We all know there are numerous daily tasks that need to be done every single day to keep your home running. When things get outta hand and we are behind on the general upkeep, picking things up cleaning, and the basic maintenance of our homes. Getting back on track seems impossible, but it’s not having a few small daily tasks and chores for every single member of the family can make it possible so that your home can stay picked up and it will stay orderly chores, save time to so responsibility and they do so many more good things for our kids. And this episode, you will find so much information on why adding chores for just a few minutes. Each day is a big contributor to simplifying home and life. Hey moms, welcome to the intentional edit podcast. Do you wanna stop feeling overwhelmed and finally get your home organized.

(00:55):

Do you find yourself up late at night, worrying about how you are going to get everything done and not drop the ball? You are wondering where to start and what to do. There is never enough time in the day. The piles of laundry are building up and it’s already time for after school activities, homework, snacks, and carpool. Oh, again, I’m Lauren. I too want an organized, clean home where my family can make long lasting memories and be present in the moment feeling like there’s never enough time to complete all the daily tasks is exhausting simplicity all around a healthy meal on the table at dinnertime and a family that contributes to the chores really is attainable. Stop telling yourself that you have to do it all or it will never get done. Or that picky eaters will never allow for a complaint free dinner. In this podcast, you will learn exactly how to declutter implement systems and maximize routines that remove the overwhelming unorganized parts of life, bringing simplicity to your life and home. Come on. It’s time to create a life you love.

(01:58):

Hey friends, thank you for joining me for this episode of the intentional edit podcast. I’m happy to have you here today. Today. We’re diving in to all things drawers and why they’re important and what you can do to have chores and just daily tasks, simple things that simplify your life. Cuz you know, if you’ve been listening to this podcast for a while, you know that I am always talking about ways that simplify. We wanna simplify our homes, simplify our life, simplify our routines, declutter, organize, purge all those unwanted items and get down to the things that are important so that we can spend time with our favorite people doing the things that we love. You’ve heard me say that before and I will continue to say that over and over and over again because it is so important. Chores don’t have to be something that are dreaded chores and tasks can just become part of our routines in our daily life.

(02:59):

They make life simple. When everyone has something that they contribute to the family, those tasks are taken off of. Usually mom, usually one person is doing all of these things. Mom, isn’t the only one that makes the mess. So she shouldn’t be the only one that is picking up and cleaning and doing all of these tasks. Everything should not fall on one person. I want to start off the episode today by talking about some of the benefits of chores. And I said a few seconds ago that chores don’t have to be dreaded tasks because they’re not really a big deal when you think, oh, I have to do my chores. Oh, I have to do all these things I have to clean. I have to cook. I have so much to do. When you say it like that, then it becomes this negative thing. But when we fit the little daily tasks and chores into what we do to get through the day and to keep our homes at the baseline that we have established feels good for us, then it is not a big deal because really it’s a minute out of our day and making sure that everyone has chores or everyone has a couple tasks that they do not necessarily every day, but at least four days a week, we keep everything running.

(04:20):

It’s like, let’s make this a smooth thing that happens. That’s what we do by having chores, having tasks that everyone is responsible for whether you know it or not in your family unit, you have figured out these things and it might not be intentional. A lot of times it’s not intentional. Is it the same person that takes out the garbage when it’s full? Do you let the garbage overflow? And then someone comes, becomes frustrated. It’s finally taken out. Do you have some kind of a chore chart or a system set up where people are responsible for doing things at different times or on different days, whatever it is, whether it wasn’t intentional or it was, you already have symptoms symptoms. You already have systems to get these things done. And sometimes they’re good systems. They fit into your routine and they just work. And sometimes there’s things that are not functioning.

(05:16):

They’re not helping. They’re not a benefit for the family. They’re not, the home is not benefiting because of these things. They’re just happening. And if you are one of the people that the trash is overflowing, there isn’t a real habit or routine in place with taking out the trash. This episode is going to be really good for you and give you a lot of ideas on what you can do and why you wanna have chores. And in just 10 minutes, sometimes even less than that 10 minutes a day, what everyone contributing for 10 minutes can add up to having your cl house be at this baseline 99% of the time, the baseline that feels good for you where you don’t feel dread and overwhelmed because the house is a mess. There’s so much to do. The dishes are piling up. There’s toys everywhere and you’re behind on everything.

(06:11):

We want to eliminate that. And that’s one of the amazing things about adding age appropriate chores, why it makes life simple. So we, let me just take a few minutes and talk about some of the benefits. So one thing is when everyone is contributing and I’m talking about little kids, like two, three years old on up to the adults, it gives families a chance to do something together. The younger your kids are the more explanation they will need and supervision they will need. But this is a time where you can actually be super engaged and create special moments with your kids so that they know how to do these things. It might be something as simple as picking up the toys that are on the floor and putting them in a basket, do that a couple of times together. And then they can do it on their own.

(07:04):

What happens with that is it creates a strong sense of responsibility and self-reliance and kids feel good. It’s a really, it’s a booster to their self-esteem. When they are taught something new, they can learn how to do it. And then they’re doing it on their own. As they mature different chores or different tasks can be passed on to them. And then younger kids can do the more basic things. It’s a big deal to conquer a new task, to learn it, to be able to do it and to finally be doing it on your own. One other thing that chores do are chores help with a long term work ethic. When you have a responsibility that you need to do and you get it done, you are developing those basic skills of having a strong worth work ethic and being responsible for something. Sometimes families choose to add an element of allowance or paying for different jobs.

(08:07):

And sometimes they don’t. I have seen success in both ways in whatever you feel is right for your family will work. You just have to put that system in place. If you think that money should be involved in the chores. Great. If you don’t, that’s fine too. Somewhere. There is a great balance with this. And a lot of times where I see families have success is they have the basic tasks and chores that the kids are responsible for that take five to 10 minutes, a couple days out of the week, usually four to five days out of the week. And everyone has the things that they are responsible for. Basic things like making your own bed, possibly taking out the trash, picking up the toys, making sure your backpack is packed before school and sitting by the door, not having shoes out all over the house.

(08:57):

Things like that are the basic chores they’re responsible for. And there’s not any exchange of money in that. But then there are bigger tasks that can be done and the kids can choose what they want to do and earn money based on the value that was set by one of the parents who decided that vacuuming the living room is worth 50 cents or picking up the dog poop is worth a dollar, whatever it is and whatever, the amount of money that makes sense for your family is totally fine. There’s not necessarily a right and wrong for that type of thing. You just wanna create a system and go with the system so that your family can be on the same page. And everyone knows what to expect. If you are a family that likes to have a nightly pickup time or nightly chore time where everyone after dinner or after school, time has 10 minutes or 15 minutes where you say, okay, now it’s pick up time.

(10:00):

And then everyone disperses to their different areas does their chores. And after that amount of time, life resumes as normal, you can do something like that too. And that’s a, uh, one way where you can really see chores build teamwork because you become accountable to each other. The kids start to see if one person doesn’t do their chores. It affects the entire family. If one person isn’t doing the tasks that have, they have been set for everyone else is negatively affected by that, depending on the age of your kids, you, there might be some complaining or hesitation about wanting to start this, but in the end, when you have these chores and these tasks that are completed each day, and again, I’m going to emphasize, it’s just a few minutes, five, 10 minutes, usually to do these things, to keep your house at that baseline, the kids will eventually not complain because it’s so simple.

(10:59):

It really is just a few minutes. Then you have more time together or they have more time to spend doing the things that they want to do because one person isn’t taking on all their responsibilities anymore. So those are just a couple benefits. Don’t even know if I covered all of them, but there’s many, many benefits of having chores for your family. We’re gonna talk about now, what are age appropriate chores? My favorite thing is when every member of the family has a few things that they’re responsible for on different days of the week. And what usually works the best is simple things during the weekday. If you have a family with busy, busy schedules, and then maybe five minutes during the week, nothing on Friday or Saturday, and then maybe Sunday, it’s like 10, 15 minutes. It’s a little bit longer the lengthier chores or the things that they need to do to reset for the next week and prepare for that might take a little bit longer.

(12:03):

It doesn’t have to be the exact same. Another thing that can work is if you have some type of rotation, if you don’t want to designate specific chores for each member of the family, something that usually works really well is to have a calendar to rotate on like a three or four day schedule. Everyone has chores that they do during this time. But if you have kids that are similar in age and they can do a lot of the same tasks they rotate. So you, if you have three kids, you have a li list. One list, two list three for four days or three days. Each child is assigned one, two or three, and then it rotates. So after those three or four days, it moves on. And so the child doing the tasks on number one is now doing those on number two, the child that was doing the task for number two is now doing number three and so on.

(12:56):

So then they don’t get tired of those. And they just refer to the calendar to see what they are doing because the list is constantly rotating. That’s another way to do it. There’s many ways to do it. My favor again is when each person has a set list of responsibilities and what day they’re supposed to do those on, they get done. And they’re only five to 10 minutes of tasks and you don’t necessarily have to do them all at the same time. If you have younger kids, it’s easier for everyone to do the chores at the same time while you are learning these things. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Now let’s talk about what are kids capable of doing at different ages? Let’s start with the little ones. This may seem little and like young, and you’re not gonna be able to believe this when I say some of these things, but even as young as ages two and three kids can put toys away.

(13:50):

They can put things back, picking something up, putting it in a basket, pushing a basket or a tub or bin across the floor into a closet where it goes, things like that. And a lot of times you can sing a song or play a song. And for that one song, all the toys that were taken out can now be put away. That’s two and three year olds, two and three year olds can also put books back on a shelf or books back in a basket. They can do anything that is a simple command. Put trash in the trash can put the dirty clothes in the dirty laundry basket, and you can make it fun. If it’s bath time, they’re about to take a bath. You’re gonna give them a bath and you’re taking off their clothes before bath time. Let ’em toss the clothes into the hamper and see if they can throw them in a lot of chores for these younger kids, especially are developing motor skills.

(14:45):

Not it’s not only the responsibility, the teamwork, the work ethic, all of that. There’s many other benefits for younger kids that you can tie into these chores. And that are just happen. As a result of the chores, little ones also can help set the table and it’s not going to be perfect. It’s not going to be a holiday table setting, but they can put a plate on each place setting where they can set napkins out. Something like that. Simple things. They really can do a lot. If you have a two or three year old and a younger baby, you’ve probably noticed the things that they can accomplish, where if you ask them to go get you a diaper or a pacifier, or get the baby a toy, they can do these things and they love to help. So this is a great time for things like that.

(15:37):

Now let’s talk about a little bit older kid. Those are things for the two and three year olds. What about maybe like 4, 5, 6 at that age? And again, you want to make sure that this is developmentally appropriate for your child because every kid is a little bit different. Usually around that age, they can be responsible for scooping up some dog food or cat food, putting it in a bowl, feeding a pet. They can absolutely put their toys away. And it, this becomes when it’s more than just placing something in a basket. If they got out a game and or something with more pieces, they can put it away. If they can get it out and play with it, then they can put it away. This is a great age to start making the bed. It might not look like if you made the bed, the covers might not be perfectly straight.

(16:25):

The pillows might not be in the perfect position, but they will be generally. And as they do this more and more, it gets better and a little straighter, but that age is a great age to start making the bed, picking up things in their bedroom. You can give them tasks like watering, um, some plants or watering a flower. If you have those in your house, they can do a lot with sorting. So helping to put away dishes in the dishwasher, or even just taking them out of the dishwasher and stacking the bulls together, or sorting the silverware, things like that. Those are developmentally appropriate and they help with other skills, not just getting the chores done kids often at that age, when they see some, uh, older sibling or parent vacuuming, they’re O they’re often interested in vacuuming or using a broom or things like that.

(17:20):

And that’s fine if your kids are interested in that and they can do it. Those are things that they can do too. After dinner, you can have them take the dishes to the sink. Anything that they’re showing an interest in, you be the judge and see, does it make sense for them? Because you might have a child that might need to do something a little bit later than most kids. And you might have the opposite of that, where you have someone who is much younger, but capable of doing something. Now, as your kids get a little bit older, six, seven years old, they’re usually big enough to where they can take a trash bag out or gather the trash in the house and empty all the small trash cans into one bigger bag by ages six to seven, there capable of folding more. So definitely folding towels.

(18:11):

Some clothes might be a little hard, but folding towels and they can do dusting. They can, should be able to empty the dishwasher completely by themselves. They can help with laundry things like matching up socks or taking laundry to the locations where it goes. If they folded the towels and you store those in a laundry room cabinet, they can put things away like that. If things need to be put away that are high up, they can at least get them to that location, close to it, set them on the counter below. And then a taller person puts them up above at ages six and seven. A lot of times you see kids that are start to be interested in cooking or helping to prepare the meals. And they can do some of those things with your assistance. They can learn to cook and make things.

(18:59):

And if that is an interest to them, use that to your advantage. That’s not even necessarily something I would put on a chore list, but it’s something that is helpful. They’re contributing to the family and they’re using their time in a positive way. And really it’s a bonding thing for whoever they are doing the cooking with. Now, what about 8, 9, 10 year olds? Younger ages can empty the dishwasher by eight, nine years old. They can load the dishwasher. They can actually rinse off the dish dishes and put them in the dishwasher. They should be able to manage, to fold laundry, the clothing items by then they can hang up items from clean laundry, put those on hangers. They can help with dusting. If you are returning from the grocery store or there’s things to put away, then that’s a great age where they can be responsible for emptying like granola bars from the packages into a container in your pantry, helping to put groceries away, helping to carry groceries in lots of stuff like that.

(20:02):

They can wipe off the table after dinner, or even depending on where you live. Possibly start to take the dog for a walk. You get a little bit older, 10, 11, 12. This is when the bigger tasks come in. Like they can be responsible for vacuuming an entire room, cleaning a bathroom, cleaning the countertops and do, and really doing it right so that you’re disinfecting and getting everything off of there. By that age, they can really prepare a very basic simple meal on their own. A lot of kids around this age, that’s when they’re taught to mold the lawn, they can go to the mailbox, bring in the mail, even sort the mail for who it’s for, and really do simple things that are the things that parents do or adults do on a daily basis. If you need to give them larger projects to do, that’s a, this is the age group that really can start to do these things and have success with those.

(21:06):

Now, once you get to that 12, 13 teenagers, they can pretty much do it all. If, if they need to mop, they can mop. If they need to change a light bulb or replace batteries in something, they can do these things. They can help you a lot with outside stuff, pulling weeds, and even younger kids can pull the weeds, but they can start to trim or replace plants and things like that. They can do larger projects. If you’re doing a DIY home improvement project, they can be involved in some of that. They can not only wash and fold the laundry, but they can start to iron or steam, their clothes with chores. You have to be the one that explains how they’re done that demonstrates the process and go over the safety of the things that they will be using. If you’re having them use sharp objects and tools to trim something outside or an iron or steamer, there’s risk involved in that.

(22:09):

And they have to be responsible enough to use those items appropriately without getting injured. Those are just a lot of things that came to mind for different chores. That make sense. And now you’re wondering, okay, what do I do? There’s a lot of chores. What do I do? Take the things that need to be done in your house. And I like to make a simple calendar, just write down the days of the week and each person’s name. And then once you have done this, what needs to be done? So one thing that sometimes kids like to do is clean the mirrors. So if you have mirrors and you have a child that wants to do that, or you determine what child will do that on a Tuesday, the seven year old gets the rag and the cleaning solution. And they go through the house and clean the mirrors in the house.

(22:59):

What happens when you do this on a weekly basis? Because that child is every Tuesday is going to do this. These things stay clean, going back to talking about the baseline. When you’re doing something once or twice a week, the house overall stays clean, can still have people over because every week these things are happening. One thing in my family, I like the kitchen counters to be spotless. I don’t like drips of water on them. I like it to be clean. And that’s just something that is a personal preference of mine. So that is always on my list. As one of my nightly chores, I am the person that is the final person in the kitchen to make sure that the kitchen counters and sink are spotless and empty and ready to start the next day, clean clutter free and clean the way that I like them.

(23:49):

If you have something like that, that is important to you. That can be one of your nightly tasks. Again, take this calendar, write down the days of the week everybody’s name and EV and what everyone is going to do for each project. One child might have the mirror example. Like I said, another child might be responsible for gathering the hand towels and the towels in the kitchen sink and all those extra towels, putting them in the laundry, starting a load of laundry and getting them to the dryer, or just gathering them and getting them in into the laundry room so that you can start that load of laundry at an appropriate time. One child might be responsible for cleaning or clearing off the dishes AF from the table after you guys ate on two days a week and another child might have the other two days a week, you make these things work for your family.

(24:41):

You might split it up to where you do dish duty twice a week. You have two kids. And each one of those kids does dish duty on the other two night, where you’re doing the chores and the task and things like that. What needs to be done in your home is one of the responsibilities of the kids to feed the dog. If that’s it, put that on the list. And that might be something that they do every single day. If it takes 30 seconds to a minute to go get the scooper, put the food in the scooper and then dump it into the dog bowl. That can be one of the tasks that’s on the list. Divide it up for what is appropriate by age and the development of each of your individual children. And you will have success with this, nothing more than 10 or 15 minutes.

(25:28):

If it takes less on some nights and more on other nights, that’s totally okay, make it fit into your schedule so that it works for your family. And once you get into the groove of this and you guys are all contributing and you’re all spending these 10 minutes or so each night or four to five nights a week, then you will start to see the benefits long term. It just becomes something that is done. The complaining stops. Everyone just does these things. And then the house stays picked up. The house stays orderly a long term benefit when the kids are participating in things like this. And they’re one of the jobs might be to go around the house and collect any glasses, water bottles, cups, dishes that are in a different room, put them in the sink or put them in the dishwasher. When the kids start seeing these things, they’re participating in this chore, then they start to have natural consequences.

(26:26):

They see the cup out, they see the water bottle out, and then they start to bring it to the same automatically weeks. If not months down the road, you will see some of these natural consequences. And I mean that in a positive way, we start changing our habits. It it’s just something that happens. And it, it becomes even more of a time saver. So we’re already saving time by doing these chores and being intentional with what we’re putting on our chore and task lists each night. When we see what happens when we don’t do these things, or when we’re lazy, it’s easier to, to want to do them and have them done. And then our house stays at the baseline that we have determined is what we want so that we all feel good. And we feel peace in our homes. And it’s a place that we want to be to be together and spend time with each other and have positive interactions and not be stressed out and overwhelmed all the time.

(27:26):

I hope that helps you. That was a lot of information about chores. If you have more specific questions and you want to work with me one on one, and I can help with a specific chore chart and daily task list for your family and help you get dialed in so that you can create this and manage him. This, I am happy to work with you on a one-on-one coaching session. There’s a link in the podcast description. You can click on that or go to intentional, edit.com/coaching, and just book a session with me and we can get this all, figure it out for you and what works for your family. Otherwise, try it on your own. You can have success with this. You might need to make a little changes from your original plan, but this is something simple that you can start working on this week and implement for your life. Be intentional with the chores, what you want done and what is important for your home and your family. Good luck with this project. I will meet you back here next week for a tip Tuesday episode.

(28:28):

Thank you for listening to the intentional edit podcast. If you found today’s episode valuable, tell your friends about it by taking a screenshot, sharing it on social and tagging me at intentional edit. I’ll be back soon with another episode in the meantime, find me@intentionaledit.com and be sure to follow intentional edit on social platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook, to ensure you catch future episodes, click the subscribe or follow button. Now I am grateful for a five star rating and review from you. Be sure to let me know what you liked about this episode and what you want me to cover in the future.

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Lauren is the founder of Intentional Edit, a home organization and lifestyle company focused on consciously editing to create efficient and organized spaces. Lauren believes that a functional home that looks and feels good has a positive influence on all aspects of life. Creating systems that allow for the home to function more efficiently, therefore, eliminating most of the clutter and chaos is her priority. While trends come and go organization is always in style!

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