Chores your preschooler should do

Hi future Ticia here, I first wrote this post when my kids were 3 and 4 years old, and I was explaining the chores my preschoolers do as part of homeschooling preschool.  My kids are now 12 and 10 years old and the concept of doing chores is so ingrained into their being they don’t question doing the chores. Future Future Ticia 2020, my kids are now 15 and 13, and preschool chores is still a question I answer all the time, so a few more updates, and a few more pictures.

Well most days, there’s still those days.

But looking back at my parenting, I can trace a great deal of my success to this time period when I started the habits that are just part of who they are now.

As you read this post, you’ll see future Ticia notes written throughout, amusingly enough I was rereading this post back when the kids were 10 and 8, and adding notes then.

Chores for preschoolers

As you no doubt have guessed by now, I firmly believe my kids should do chores. We have changed the way we live to help make more age-appropriate chores for kids.

Edited to add: at the time of my writing this originally my boys were 4, and my daughter was almost 3.  3 years later most of this is still true, with a few things added in.

Chores preschoolers should do: DISHES 

1.  We use mostly plastic dishes. This means they can set the table, and they can put away their own dishes. {Edited to add, now at ages 8 and 7 they have been putting away all of the dishes for about 2 years. Future Ticia 2020 will add, my teens can do every single dish in the entire house and I’m not scared they’ll break.}
2.  There’s a cabinet that is at their level that has most of the kid dishes. The kids are in charge of putting away anything that goes in there.  {We still have the kid dishes cabinet, and it’s a big life-saver}
3.  The kids can put away silverware, but they do not put away sharp knives, but a butter knife will be very hard to hurt yourself with. It takes a lot of skill, even though I haven’t managed it yet.
   * Caveat to this, if your kids put away your silverware, that does mean that you won’t always be able to find stuff.

Added: at 7 and 6 my kids are now completely responsible for putting away all dishes, and I can USUALLY find it in the right place.

{Added again, my kids now also hand wash the cutting knives at almost age 9}

[Added again, my kids hand wash the pots and pans once they turn 10, my daughter made a big point of not being 10, and not having to hand wash the pots, until she turned 10, of course, 10 is also when I allow you to make dinner on your own.]

Chores preschoolers should do: GROCERIES

I try very hard to ensure that groceries are packed at the store so they’re not too heavy. When we’re unloading everything, anything that is light enough for the kids to carry is put on the ground for them to come to get.

I usually do the grocery shopping with the kids, this does mean it takes MUCH longer. But, they can also fetch things off of shelves that they can reach, and are usually quite happy to help me get mushrooms or bananas.

Added: They are now able to help me put away all of the groceries.  They still occasionally struggle with putting away refrigerated goods in the right place, so I need to double-check that.

Funny story about that, one time my kids put a package of refrigerated biscuits in the pantry.  Around 2 in the morning a loud bang woke me up, and I rushed out of my room to find the biscuit canister had exploded and biscuit dough was everywhere.  Always check on the refrigerated items.

Chores Preschoolers should do: CLEANING

You’ve all seen my kids doing lots of cleaning, and mopping, and general picking up. Here are things I have them do:

1. Mop. I got this cleaning set*.  Having my kids mop the floor does mean that it is usually fairly wet afterward, but I can run my big mop over it afterward and get the worst of it off.

** my kids have now all graduated to full-size mops and brooms

** my kids at ages 10 and 12 still argue over mopping the floor

2. Sweep. I want to get some more brooms for the kids, probably from the above site. The ones we have right now I don’t really like. I saw an idea from a featured site Totally Tots to tape a square to identify where they should sweep to. I’m going to start trying that idea, because I think it will be a big help.

**my kids no longer need that extra help.

3. Folding clothes. I showed the boys how to do this and Batman loves to fold clothes now. He’s horrible at it. They end up looking more like they’re wadded up, but he loves to do it, and it lets him feel like he’s helping Mommy.

**3 years later and they’re still bad at folding.  They don’t want to take the time, but they will still happily help.

**now they are completely responsible for their own clothes and each have a laundry day set aside for washing and folding clothes

4. A corollary to that last one, putting away their own clothes. All three of them, even Princess are responsible for putting away their own clothes. This is one I have to check up on because they have a tendency to get distracted and not finish putting them away. But otherwise, they do pretty well. As long as you don’t mind them not always getting it in the right drawer.

5. Clean counters, as future Ticia 2020 was updating other posts I found a picture of my kids cleaning the counters. They each are given a small plastic bowl of mildly soapy warm water, and a washcloth. They did a great job.

So, that’s the chores my preschoolers do.

A lot of why I have them do all of this is because I want them to grow up realizing that is part of life, and it must be done. Also, I had more than a few friends in college who didn’t know how to load a dishwasher or cook, or do laundry. It was truly frightening, I do not want my kids to be like that.

Learn more about parenting

• Spend One on One time with your kids
• Personal Purity Course for teens
• Chores and Responsibility
• Dealing with being judged as a parent