Mom2Mentor
Encouraging and motivating single mothers, reminding them of their strength and determination. They can succeed as a single parent as long as they remain focused.
Its not about how you arrived at the TITLE, but, what you do with it!
Mom2Mentor
Yes, Your Kids Can Handle Chores—Here’s How!
This episode dives into the importance of assigning age-appropriate chores to children, emphasizing that responsibilities at home teach valuable life skills. I discuss how chores not only ease the burden on parents but also foster a sense of accountability and independence in kids.
• Importance of teaching chores early
• Age-specific responsibilities explained
• Benefits of helping children take on tasks
• Critical thinking and adapting strategies for your family
• Preparing kids for independence through chores
• Reflecting on parenting and setting expectations
https://singlemomsunitedpodcast.com/
It's not how you arrived at the title, but what you do with it.
Hey, ladies, welcome to the Single Moms United podcast. If this is your first time joining, welcome If you are a repeat listener. Thank you for your loyalty. Hey, I'm not going to spend a lot of time with schematics today. We're going to jump right into our topic. It's about the chore chart for your children. We have to be teaching our children and setting them up for success as they leave our homes, and part of that is giving them responsibilities, congratulating them on when they do good or when they do bad, or correct them when they do bad.
Speaker 1:We're going to talk about chores today and age-specific chores our kids need to adhere to or you need to introduce. Keep in mind, this is not a one-size-fits-all. It's a one-size-fits-most so you do what's appropriate for you and your household. And this podcast is also about critical thinking. As I talk about different things, you may say, yeah, that may work in my house. Or you may say, no, it doesn't, but I'll try this. Or it does, and I'm gonna add this right, so it's not a one size fits all, but it's designed to make you think. And at the end of this podcast, mom, you should want and feel comfortable in giving your child chores to do. There are benefits. Number one you're teaching them how to be responsible. And then, number two, it's help for you, right? Especially if you have your day job and you're going out and doing extras that you need to do, it's always great to have that backup plan or that support you need to maintain your house.
Speaker 1:With my kids, I gave them responsibilities and they rotated them depending on what it was right. One can't say that oh yeah, I always had to do this, I always had to do that. No, they rotated each week and I taught them how to do their own laundry. I taught them how to clean the kitchen. I taught them how to clean the bathroom. Why is that important? With me being the only parent in the household, I needed that support because I worked every day. As a result of that, that took some of the pressure off of me, and so when they would do their chores and they do them correctly, then I would treat them out to a pizza or we'll go to a fun center or something like that, because now we can, because now mom isn't having to do all the chores in the household. So now I'm able to pay forward and it is a form of a payment right, and it's up to you whether you wanna give your child a little something or some type of reward. I would recommend it. Right, it doesn't have to be every week, maybe once a month. You wanna do something for him or her or them? I did. I gave my kids or took them out, did various activities with them every now and then, because, of course, I wasn't rich so I had to watch the pennies. But I would recommend you do that as well.
Speaker 1:All right, so what are we talking about today? Again, we're talking about chores by age. Again, not a one size fits all. You take this and say this is yes, no, maybe, or and or, but, but definitely something to consider.
Speaker 1:If your child is between the age of two and three, you want to encourage them maybe to throw away trash, wipe up spills, dust with a duster you may actually like that. Wipe the baseboards I mean, they're certainly short enough to do that. Place books on the shelf, if you have books. Put toys in bins and I know you have those, or they have toys everywhere. Definitely teach them how to put those up. Collect dirty clothes and put them in a hamper. Help clear the table. Oh, and water plants, if you have plants in your home. Definitely give them that task to do and rinse fruits and vegetables, and that's just simply just washing them off underwater. And that's at the age of two and three. Again, you may want to add something to this and that's absolutely awesome, because that's what this podcast is all about. It's about critical thinking, not just a one size fits all. All right. So ages four and five help dry the dishes.
Speaker 1:In my perspective, most folks have dishwashers. Now I would say, unload the dishwasher or load the dishwasher, put the plates in, and certainly you can help them with that. They can also help with laundry. You know, help load the washer and dryer if them with that. They can also help with laundry. You know, help load the washer and dryer if you have that. And even if you don't have a washer and dryer in your home.
Speaker 1:Now, when I first started, I had to take my clothes to the laundromat. My kids went with me, so you can still teach them this fundamental as it relates to laundry at the laundromat. Mom, okay, so don't get it twisted just because, oh, I don't have a washer and dryer in the house. You don't have to. If you are going to the laundromat, no issue there. Just make sure your child, or your children, are helping out in that way. Also, once you get there, laundry completed, help them. Teach them how to put their clothes away yeah, that's huge. Teach your child how to make their bed yeah, there's nothing wrong with that making a bed.
Speaker 1:Each day, mop small areas in the kitchen because, again, a lot of activity happens there and even in the bathrooms, getting in and out of the tub, water may splash here, there and everywhere in the bathrooms getting in and out of the tub, water may splash here, there and everywhere, or other accidents I'll call it an accident may happen. That floor may need to be mopped or cleaned up, right. So even though they may put a towel down and dry up, whatever the situation was, you still need to come back and sanitize that, and generally you do that by mopping. Okay, so they can do that. And especially, most bathrooms are small. So I would even recommend you start there and then maybe go to the kitchen, because kitchens are a little larger, have a little larger area. So start with the bathroom. If you have a pet, let them feed the pet little cat, dog, puppy, whatever, six and seven. Empty the dishwasher.
Speaker 1:Okay, we kind of talked about that these are just recommendations by age, but it's what you feel comfortable with your child and what they're prepared for Not every child. Just because age is listed here doesn't mean that you really abide by that. You go based on how mature your child is right or what you think they can handle. We're just identifying this by age. Right now, you may say my child needs to have done this at four and five, whereas some things you're like yeah, little Johnny ain't that mature yet, so I'm going to wait till he's eight before I have him to start doing this or that. The point is, as long as you start At six and seven, you can also have them start using a handheld vacuum sweeping the floors.
Speaker 1:Have them start using a handheld vacuum sweeping the floors, cleaning windows, wiping down bathroom sinks, sorting laundry, folding bath towels, prepare small snacks and help put away groceries yeah, all of those things they can start doing, so you can start preparing them for life. This is what it's all about. Mom, we're more than just moms. We're mentors, we're educators. We have to be there for our children and make sure, as they round out life and go out on their own, that they have these capabilities and this knowledge on how to function in life and not wait for someone else to do it for them.
Speaker 1:Eight and nine-year-olds load the dishwasher. If your little baby can do it at four and five, then let them. You don't have to wait till they turn eight and nine Again. Wipe off the table, fold laundry, wipe counters, dust shelves, make up their bed, putting sheets on their bed. Help plan meals that's a huge one. Now they feel like they are more involved, as long as it ain't a bunch of junk food, right. But help them. Like what do you think we should eat this week? Right, involve them. I think that's the word choice I want to look for there. If you have a house and you have leaves outside, then definitely encourage them to rake leaves, and that's it for eight nine year olds, but you can add additional items that you think that are appropriate to help your child mature, because this is not only are we teaching, but we're allowing them to become mature and develop independence as it relates to maintaining their life and lifestyle, and not waiting on someone to do it for them.
Speaker 1:All right, 10 and 11 year olds here we go with this laundry again, washing their clothes. Important, again, I had my kids washing their own laundry. Later on in life and I think it was around 10 or 11 that I had them doing their own laundry Preparing simple meals, taking out the garbage, washing mirrors, vacuuming the car, hand washing dishes Ain't nothing wrong with that either Mopping floors, vacuuming, putting groceries away and fixing their own lunch Because now they're going into getting prepared for the teen years. I hear you, these are things that we should get our kids in position for so that they can be successful 12 and up. So at this point, if you have younger kids, then 12 and up, they should be responsible enough to watch their siblings.
Speaker 1:Not long-term mom, okay, but maybe an hour or two while you need to run out to the grocery store or run some errands, yeah, let them watch the kids while you're out, or the other child while you're out Supervising chores, cleaning the bathroom I'm not sure how many people iron clothes anymore, but iron Prepare full meals. Now, this is huge, mom, when it's just you trying to get it done. You need that additional support, and your older child can do that for you. And then there's just many other household responsibilities that they can link to and be responsible for, and so you type or write these out. You can get your little whiteboard at the dollar store or Dollar Tree, write it out, put it on the refrigerator or somewhere they can see it. I'm trying to think how I did it with my kids. I think it was on a refrigerator, I had a schedule for them and it just rotated that way. But you can do that too, mom, this doesn't have to be complicated. This is your child, this is your children. These are the ones you're preparing for life.
Speaker 1:In prior episodes I talked about what's a good mom, what's a bad mom, or rather, was a good parent was a bad parent? A good parent teaches period. A good parent teaches, bad parent does not. Because you have to consider, mom, you're not always going to be here. Hopefully you outlive your children, but you're able to see their success of what you taught them a long life's journey that they have to be responsible Because, remember, they're going to have to go out and get a job too, and when they go out and get a job, there are expectations to do that job right. So if we're not teaching them responsibility now, what's it going to be like when they get out in the real world and they're being held accountable for doing their job or not doing their job.
Speaker 1:You know, along my career I always had performance evaluations of how well I did my job or do my job or do my job. And my behavior that has been instilled with me along life's journey is because my mom had me doing chores. She had a garden and she had me out there working in her garden, picking the vegetables and bringing them in and washing them. She had me sweeping, she had me vacuuming, she had me taking the garbage out. She had me doing numerous things around the house. And I'm grateful for that, because now, as I got into working, you know all of this wasn't foreign to me.
Speaker 1:If somebody told me to do something, I'm familiar with that because my mom instilled that in me along my journey of childhood. It was never anything of it being given to me and it was funny or it is funny, or rather it was funny back then my mom would tell me to do something and if I didn't get it quite right, she would say stop being so half-handed. Now you know you needed to do this or you needed to do that and da-da-da-da-da. And you know, at first I was like, oh okay, and of course when I was growing up you couldn't even think any negative thoughts, because she heard you I'm just talking about when I was growing up. She would say stop being half-handed, and that was her term for not doing it correctly or getting it done right. And I so appreciate that. I do appreciate that because now I have a better understanding of what she was trying to teach me.
Speaker 1:Right, because anything you do half-hearted is a mess, is incomplete, and what do you accomplish by half doing stuff right? So it may look good on the outside, but there's still other things behind the scenes that didn't get taken care of because you chose not to give it your all. And that's what we have to instill in our kids Don't go and just do a piece of it, do it in its entirety. When you get in the workforce, they are not going to accept you just doing it halfway or it being incomplete. They are paying you to do a job and do the job and be complete with it, period. And that's our time to educate our children so that when they get in the workforce, all of this is informed to them.
Speaker 1:That's why kids don't stay on jobs today or to appreciate that somebody's gonna be telling you what to do and then they get all up in the uproar because so-and-so, they can't take feedback from their boss. Why can't they? Because, yeah, mom is probably a mom or a parent that chose not to do that with their child or be firm with their child and said you know what? You're not going to do it, I'll go ahead and do it for you. Well, that's releasing them.
Speaker 1:That's not good behavior that we're trying to instill in our children of saying, okay, yeah, you go ahead and go outside or go back to playing your video games and I'll finish it up, nope, nope, nope, nope. That's not good mom. That's not setting good expectations with your kids on what is required to survive in this world. Think about that. We're talking about survival and you can't do it all for them. All right, ladies, y'all got me all worked up over here, but I'm worked up for a good reason and that's because we are in this together. We should unite together as parents to make sure our kids are successful and given the tools on how to be successful.
Speaker 1:And it's not about money. Everybody thinks success and money go together. No, success and independence goes together. I'm just saying because otherwise, if you have to rely on somebody to get what you need, I'm sorry that it goes against the word of success. Success is linked to independence and knowledge. That's what it means to be successful, not money, because when you have independence and knowledge, the money will come. Yeah, but when you don't have that independence and you have to rely on someone else or you're failing to go out and get that knowledge, then your success level has just dwindled down significantly.
Speaker 1:So, mom, teach your child about independence. Teach your child to always be learning, and not just them, but you too. Mom, every week, you should write down what you learned this week, whether it's how to cook a new dish, whether you learned how to fix something in your home, whether you learned how to and, if you like, wearing makeup. Maybe you learned how to apply makeup in a different manner that now really makes you look sharp and beautiful. Right, and that's okay. It doesn't have to be something huge that you learn. Just learn something and then pay it forward to your child. Yeah, because once they see that you're learning, they, they're like hmm, that seems interesting. I see mom over there doing this and that and, especially if it's something positive, I want to do that too. Yeah, always be learning.
Speaker 1:And, as I mentioned in the past, mom, put the phone down for one hour or put it on mute or airplane mode One hour. Spend some time with your child or your children. What's going on? Further, build that relationship with them. What you will find is that once you do that and I know a lot of young ladies talk about that, they're lonely and so forth, and they want to be back in a relationship about that, they're lonely and so forth, and they want to be back in a relationship but once you start developing a different type of relationship with your child and getting to know them yeah, we don't know our children.
Speaker 1:We think we do because we had them, but we don't know them, especially as they get older and they start getting exposed to more and more things in life. Start getting exposed to more and more things in life. Yeah, you're going to have to take that time and get to know them and understand who they are. Just because they got your blood running through their veins doesn't mean that it's 100% representation of who they are and what they represent. And that's why, when they come to us with different things and we're looking like, wait, I would never do that. What are you talking about? That's because they've developed their own identity, their own personality, and we have to take that time to learn that person, who they are, what they represent. All right, ladies, I am really done this time. I hope you have a great day, a wonderful week and a marvelous month. You take care.
