From Toddlers to Teens: An Age Appropriate Chore List

It was a Wednesday night, and I was climbing Mount Laundry for the fourth time that week. Folding pants, hanging dresses, matching endless pairs of socks. I had resigned myself to the fact that the mountain of clothes was never truly going away, but I was also tired of trying to keep the kids’ dirty clothes manageable. “When did your parents start having you do your own laundry?” I asked, my husband as I shoved yet another tutu into my daughter’s dresser, “When do we have our kids take care of this monstrosity?”

We can all agree that kids should do chores. My children are expected to do simple chores like putting away toys when they’re done playing with them or clearing their dirty dishes. But part of living in a household is taking responsibility for the upkeep of the home, not just responsibility for personal messes. Kids need to know the chores required to maintain a house and how to support their fellow family members with housework.

But toddlers shouldn’t be scrubbing toilets! And teenagers don’t need to be the ones primarily responsible for picking up toys. There has to be a system for assigning chores, otherwise, the most competent kids do most of the work and the younger kids never learn how to contribute. To set expectations and build consistency, chore assignments must be made, and they need to be age-appropriate.

“But wait!” you may say, “Is it really worth the effort of dividing chores, making a list, and enforcing it?” Yes! From building character to cultivating camaraderie between your kids, a chore list by age is an important household tool. There are so many reasons to create age appropriate assignments, but here are the ones I think are the most compelling.

Why Your Kids Need An Age-Appropriate Chore List

Not All Chores Are Created Equal

Different chores require different skill levels. As much as my four-year-old would love to mop the floors, she’s just not ready in both size and skill level. She’s still learning to put her clothes in the hamper and clear her plate at dinner. The responsibility of cleaning the bathroom sink regularly isn’t something she’s ready for, let alone being trusted with a huge bucket of water and a mop.

It matters which chores go to which kids. Why waste your teenager’s energy collecting dirty laundry when their younger sibling is perfectly capable of doing the job? By assigning chores based on age, your teenager can grow in skills like menu planning and car maintenance, while the younger kids are learning and contributing to chores more suited to their skill level.

Having a chore list by age makes it easy to give the right chores to the right kids. It also cultivates good attitudes in every child. For help motivating your kids in the right ways, check out this post. Ditch the nagging and guide your kids into ownership of their own chores!

Sibling Camaraderie and Teamwork

Let’s be brutally honest here. Older children are more responsible. Sometimes it’s just easier to assign most of the chores to them because we know they’ll be done quickly and properly. But that’s not setting any of our kids up for success. Being the default chore kid can breed bitterness in older kids, while the younger ones miss out on responsibility and character building.

Older kids should set an example for their younger siblings. But that doesn’t mean they should pick the toys off the floor or set the table primarily. Age appropriate chore lists help divide chores and set an example. While the older kids are cutting grass or cleaning the fridge, the younger kids are making their beds or collecting trash. Both kids are seeing each other work hard and contribute to the home.

It’s important for both younger and older kids to see their siblings performing chores around the house. If an older child is washing laundry, their younger sibling can help put it away. This enforces a teamwork mentality! Older kids will still be doing harder and more chores. But the burden is shared, and siblings are drawn closer together as they work around the house.

If you want to learn more about developing lazy kids into responsible kids, read this post!

Moving Up

I don’t know about you, but my younger kids are always begging to do the harder chores. They want to get sudsy in the sink while washing the dinner dishes, or pull out an old toothbrush and scrub the tile grout in the bathroom. When no expectations are set, it’s hard to pick who’s going to complete those chores. Younger kids often aren’t ready, so parents and older kids end up doing it with no end in sight.

However, assigning chores according to age helps set those expectations of when kids are able and allowed to do those chores. It can even build excitement when kids “graduate” to the next level of chores and pass their old chores down. It’s an honor and responsibility when a child is old enough to load the dishwasher or reorganize cabinets. Being a part of the family means being part of the chore assignments, and that’s something to be excited about.

Growing Responsible Toddlers and Teens with Chore Lists By Age

Sometimes it’s still hard to figure out what chores go to which kid though. As parents, we’re tired! We get to the end of the day, find the laundry still sitting in a pile on our bed and want to scream. Inventing a system and age appropriate chore chart sounds like so much more work on top of everything else we’re juggling. Between school assignments, practices, and church meetings, we barely have time to eat dinner together. Throw in chore planning and we’re drowning even more than before.

Take a breath, because there is a solution! Our Chore List Printable takes out all the pain of planning. We’ve already assigned specific chores to each age. All you have to do is print out the list and discuss it with your kids. It was designed to coordinate with our Project Clean Chore Pack, which comes with a multitude of tools to help you and your kids take charge of chore time, but you absolutely can use it by itself. No more mystery of chore assignments for your kids. Responsibility is divided fairly between everyone.

Sign Up to Receive our Free Chore List By Age

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter if Mount Laundry is defeated and the house is spotless. Things decay and messes grow. The perfect house will never last. But character will. The responsibility you cultivate in your children will last a lifetime.

It sounds silly, but a chore list by age sets your kids up for success both practically and spiritually. They know how to care for the yard, and they know the importance of personal responsibility in all aspects of their lives. This includes their walk with the Lord! An age appropriate chore chart isn’t going to save your kids or make a perfect home. But it will provide the tools to grow joyful hearts and capable kids.