Last week, we investigated the idea of getting your kids to do some light housework – and specifically, the ideal time to make that happen.
If you missed the original piece, the link is at the end of this story.
Giving the game away slightly, the experts said that you could get your little ones involved with chores when they are as young as two years old.
But in the real world, did you agree? Is two a good age to get children at least thinking about housework? Or is it too young?
Some of you voted in our poll on that very question – and it seems we don’t think our children are quite ready at that age.
The results showed that almost half of you thought six to nine was the best age bracket for starting to explain and hand out chores.
A third agreed with the experts and plumped for two to three-year-olds getting involved with light housework.
Just over 15% thought four and five-year-olds were ready to tidy up for the first time.
And around 5% thought the 10 to 13 age bracket was a good time to start. Nobody went for the last option of 14+ – presumably, we all think that is too old.
Never mind when – how?
So, once you have decided on that perfect age, how do you get this extra help learning how to help?
Here are five quick tips to stop chores becoming a battleground (spoiler alert: They mainly revolve around making it fun).
- Do the chore with them, or some other bit of housework that means you can be in the same room and be “all in it together”.
- Play some music while they vacuum (maybe a bit of Queen, if you want to get chore-specific) or fold the clothes in the character of a Disney favourite.
- Don’t over-simplify: older kids will get bored if you always give them really simple tasks and then “hover” and help.
- Conversely, start small: If you can get the aforementioned two-year-old picking up a couple of their toys, or the five-year-old setting the table, everybody has done well.
- Make sure they know it helps the family for them to do chores – that often works better than rewards.
Here is our original piece if you want to refresh what the experts said in detail.
