Since there are young families represented on this forum, I thought I'd start a thread about children and chores. Living on a homestead means there's lots to do and children learn to work early. What do your children do? Tell us their ages, too. I'll start. Nathanael is 13, Josiah is almost 12, Sarah is 9, Elijah is 7, Benjamin is 5, Abby is almost 3.

All my children get up between 6:30 and 7:30, depending on how late we were up the night before. Before breakfast, each child gets dressed (including combing hair), makes bed, straightens room, reads Bible, works on Sunday school lesson (older children have daily assignments, younger ones memorize verses). Nathanael feeds the chickens and makes breakfast. Josiah takes out the trash and feeds the cats. Sarah feeds the rabbits and straightens and vacuums the living room and downstairs hall. Elijah straightens and sweeps both bathrooms. Benjamin gathers all the trash cans around the house and empties them into the big trash can in the kitchen. Abby takes the laundry basket back upstairs after I have taken the dirty clothes out of it. If there's time before breakfast, either Josiah or Sarah will help Elijah with his Sunday school lesson.

After breakfast, Elijah washes dishes, Benjamin dries them, Josiah clears the table. Abby folds washcloths, dishrags, and cloth napkins. Ben helps straighten the bookshelf and looks for things that are out of place. Then there are "help Mom" chores (these are spread out over the week). Anybody able to reach the clothesline is eligible for hanging out, regardless of sex. The three oldest iron their own clothes plus those of one younger child. They also do their own mending if it does not require the sewing machine. They all take turns sweeping bedroom floors (Abby uses a little broom), dusting (Abby wears a sock on her hand for this). The three oldest thoroughly clean the bathrooms (and teach this skill to Elijah), mop their bedrooms and upstairs hall. Josiah mops the kitchen floor. Nathanael cleans out the refrigerator.

Next, we do school from October to end of May. This year we are doing math (Tom, my hubby, teaches N. and J. their math and science), language arts, Canadian history, and science. We are almost always finished within 2-3 hours except for Nathanael, who is struggling with algebra. He also is learning computer skills. During the spring and summer we plant and weed and harvest during this time.

When school/gardening is finished, it's lunch time; we eat and then the children are pretty much free for the afternoon.

At about 3:30 or so, Sarah and I start supper. Sometimes Sarah does the whole meal herself. Sarah puts an apron on Abby, too, and she sets the table. Meanwhile, either Nathanael or Josiah takes the clothes off the line for me and I fold them. Then each person puts away their own things. After supper the three older boys clean up the kitchen. Animals get food and water again. In winter they do that before supper because it's dark by the time supper's over and the chickens will have gone to bed hungry.

Not many of the chores are done perfectly, especially the cleaning. I try not to be nit-picky, just pick out maybe one thing that needs done over or something. As they get older, they improve their abilities. I hope this helps somebody.

-- Cathy N. (keeper8@attcanada.ca), October 16, 2001

Answers

Gee, Cathy, do you think I could borrow a couple of your kids for a few weeks? Mine could use some training!

Joseph and Michael are 7 and 5 -- about to be eight and six. Mornings around here start with getting up and making beds, then dressing, putting their dirty clothes in the hamper and attending to personal hygiene.

Breakfast is made by me and I make Bill's lunch and coffee for work while the boys eat. The boys clear away the breakfast things and by this time, Daddy is generally leaving for work.

We ALWAYS say goodbye as a family at the back door. A friend of mine (a widow) once told me that the only real regret she had was not saying a proper goodbye to her husband as he left for work on the day he died. That won't be happening here.

Once Daddy has left for work, the boys and I start lessons. They get organized while I pour my morning coffee and we all sit down together to do our seatwork. After a short break at around 10 (half an hour for a stretch, a walk outside, a drink, etc.) we are generally finished all the lessons by 11:30 or so. I put away the homeschooling materials while the boys run off some steam, generally outside if the weather permits.

Lunch is around noon. After lunch they pretty much have free time until 3:30 or so, unless it's a field-trip day or there is a soccer practice. Extra chores, personal projects, reading, etc., can be done at this time, while I do my housework. Michael empties garbage cans while Joey is getting very good at cleaning windows!

After 3:30 I give them things to do: put away clean laundry, sort toy boxes, tidy book shelves, reading assignments -- anything that involves listening to instructions and completing tasks.

Dinner is generally at six thirty. Bill doesn't get home much before this, so dinner is normally being placed on the table as he walks in the door. We eat dinner as a family whenever possible. After dinner the boys clear the table and stack the dishes in the dishwasher. They generally have an hour or so with their dad before it's time for a bath and bed. I read to my children every night until they are asleep -- depending on the activity of the day this can range anywhere from three minutes to an hour.

I tend to fall into bed exhausted.

-- Tracy (trimmer31@hotmail.com), October 16, 2001.

Benjamin-13 does mowing, weeding, gardening, trash, the kids bathroom, his own room, dust and vaccum the living room as needed, feeding of animals, helps Dad with general projects which are always ongoing, cooking a little, washing dishes.

Brittney-7 does the small trash cans, dusting, cleans her own room, feeding of animals, weeding, watering, general gardening, picking, shelling peas, folding clothes, sweeping porches, Dad's gopher, dusting. I know I need to start her sewing and cooking, I don't have a lot of patience when it comes to that, but my husband reminded me the other day she is old enough.

-- Carol in Tx (cwaldrop@peoplescom.net), October 16, 2001.

I belive in children doing chores. Not only does it make them more competent, it makes the house nicer, and gives Mom a little help!

What I do is the following: During the school year, they get up and dress, eat, and clean their rooms. Rooms must pass my inspection before they get on the bus! Younger two help me feed the animals before they leave. In the evenings we eat supper as soon as they get home. Then everyone has to do at least one job and maybe 2 if their first one is little. These include dishes, taking down laundry and folding, and maybe carrying wood or cleaning a barn.

On weekends they usually must help me for at least 1-2 hours. Here again I rotate various chores which will include the previous ones and also, dusting, sweeping, mopping, bathrooms, cleaning van, almost anything that needs done really. As they work I am right with them, checking on the quality of their work, giving them some ideas to make the work go along quicker, and sometimes making them do it over! If someone just can't figure out how to do the dishes properly, to me that means they must need LOTS of practice so they might do them for a week straight! They learn real quick to do a dreaded job right the first time!!

I do try to make it fun though, because so much of life is taken up with normal everyday chores, so why not enjoy it. They will often tell me that they really don't mind doing their chores. Often when they get up they will ask me first thing what their job is. I try to give them a variety of things to do, so they will learn how to do everything that needs done. Summertime is a whole different story, and truthfully I am sleepy right now so I will maybe post about it later!

-- Melissa (me@home.net), October 16, 2001.

WOW , (cathy hehe) , how do you do it, i wish i could get your children to do that for me too, i seem to have soo many responsibilities!! =) But seriously, how old did you start them working together on things to have everything in order? I haven't really asked you before about it, but does Abby work on things too. I would really hate to see those precious little chubby fingers getting dirty. =) your biggest fan (jillian)

-- jillian (sweetunes483@yahoo.com), October 16, 2001.

Jillian, I am a firm believer in giving ALL children some bit of work to do by the time they are able to crawl to the toy box and empty it. Abby has to pick up her toys, take care of her dirty clothes, dress herself, fold and put away square things (washcloths, etc), set the table for supper, straighten the covers on her side of the bed, memorize her Sunday school verse, carry the dirty clothes basket upstairs after I've emptied it. If she happens to have an accident during the day, she changes her clothes herself. The first time she rinsed her underwear in the toilet, I about had a cow. "Abby! You need to wash your hands really, really, really well!!" She looked kind of hurt and said, "I already did, Mommy." "With soap?" "Yeth!"

The way to get children to work is, work with them, make it fun (washing dishes isn't usually fun, but you can put on a tape, carry on a conversation, play a verbal word game, etc.), insist on the best they can do, and have dire consequences for laziness and bad attitudes. (Around here, if you don't work, you don't eat; certain things have to be done before certain meals. A bad attitude earns the same chore over again, or they get to do someone else's chore besides their own.)

-- Cathy N. (keeper8@attcanada.ca), October 17, 2001.

My boys Benoit and Cameron are 4 and 2 (almost 3). Ben usually wakes me up and if its still dark I make him either go back to bed or climb in with me. Doesn't always work. If Cammie is still asleep we leave him there til he's awake...go downstairs and the boys usually want TV and breakfast. I get coffee and computer at that time. Then the boys do their stuff...smear peanut butter on the windows while I am doing stuff in the kitchen..while I clean up that , they get into the talcum powder and calamine lotion in the bathroom, while I scream and clean that they take every book off their shelf to make a big pile (this is their game of garbage mans and the pile of books is if I am lucky...sometimes its the drawer full of puzzles and the drawer of coloring books and crayons too), while I yell and try and get them to clean up they usually manage to get into more mischief. Its not always this way....some days its worse! :o) On the plus side, when I ask Ben to go tidy his room he does. He put all the junk in Cammie's room last time. His room was much tidier after that. Ben loves to feed the dog and often puts his clothes away when I am folding laundry. He really does love to help. Cammie is getting that way too. The kitchen floor needs washing today...maybe I'll arm them with a bucket of water and rags. When they are done I will mop up. :o) I think I am a bit hopeless at this whole mommy thing. :o)

-- Alison in N.S. (aproteau@istar.ca), October 17, 2001.

In reading this thread over, I realized I need to add two things. First, Abby does not wash out her underwear any more; I put a stop to that. Second, a lot of the credit for Abby doing so much goes to my daughter Sarah. I had put her in charge of getting Abby's stuff done, and to make things easier for herself, she taught Abby to be more self-sufficient. She even taught Abby to tie her own shoes. Thank you, Sarah!

-- Cathy N. (keeper8@attcanada.ca), October 17, 2001.

Our kids have a chore everyday--which doesn't sound like much but they help out with other things--not as chores--just because they are part of the family (like picking in the garden or shucking corn or raking leaves, animals)

Their chores help with whatever needs doing that week but are meant to take 10 min or less (esp during school year because homework is their primary job!)Some of these jobs are: clean a sink,clean a toilet,clean a bathtub,sweep, wipe fingerprints off walls and doors, clean the fronts of dishwashter, microwave and oven....

Their chores are not tied to their allowance (1$ per year of school grade). Each child gets a chore list that I keep/change each week on the computer. Then they can do them ahead of time if they know they will be busy on a certain day. It teaches them to manage their time-- and it is easy to point out that a certain activity cannot be done because they cant/haven't done their responsibilities first.

My kids are responsible for feeding/taking care of cats, dogs, chickens. But I usually help with that when days are filled with extra activities.

Kids always set table for meals and take/get drink orders. Kids help bus table afterwards and clean kitchen after dinner.

My kids like to help cook. As soon as they could hold things I've had them helping in the kitchen. It is better for a child to know how to use sharp implements so they are safer. Im amazed at girl scouts the number of girls who have never held a knife or vegetable peeler.

I tend to make the chores longer and add jobs if I notice they are using their time poorly (too much TV). I will do the opposite if they are rushing to get back to a project they are making or an imaginative game they have created.

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), October 17, 2001.

My son is 6 and in charge of the cat. He is to feed and water her. He puts his clothes in the dirty clothes basket and helps with dishes and cleaning off the table. Time doesn't alot for much else. Jalynn cleans her room and picks up her clothes. Journey loves to dust and helps straighten shoes. She's not two yet but she is my biggest help.

-- mindy (speciallady@countrylife.net), October 17, 2001.

That reminded me: They have to put their clothes in a clothes basket if they want mom to wash them and they must put their folded clothes away.

When they become teens they have to keep their dirty clothes in the dirty clothes basket or else they must do their own wash.

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), October 17, 2001.

Well a tipical day for us is I am up at 5:30. I try to have the house picked up and breakfast going. My five year old son gets up at 6:15. Dress, brush hair, eat together, brush teeth. Time to start. John Michael feeds the cats, dogs and chickens, while I get the geese, rabbits and hang laundry or check the calfs.My daycare kids start ariving at 7:30 and off we go. We have school from 8:15 until about 11:30. Usually not many breaks.Lunch at 11:30 then naps for the others while John Michael starts whatever outdoor chore I need done. This week it is pick up pecans.In the summer it's the garden. What ever I am doing he helps. Wether it's laundry, cleaning, gardening, animals or what ever he always helps. He does get to watch 1 show a day. This can be in the afternoon or evening and I have to approve. Supper is at 6:00 and he usually sets the table and helps with the drinks. Then it's dishes and back to the animals. Now that the days are so short, it's pitchblack at 8:00 so we try to be done by then. After that we go to my craft room and work on our homemade christmas presents for this year. We do get to have alot fun, but work comes first. Sunday afternoon is play day!

-- Micheale from SE Kansas (mbfrye@totelcsi.net), October 17, 2001.

Alison, I don't think you are "hopeless at this whole mommy thing"! I think you just have a different style. Maybe you are like us- a bit more "relaxed" about life in general. When something needs to get done we all work together and it gets done. But none of us have specific chores on what needs to get done when (except for making sure the animals and us are fed and that is not on a set schedule, either). You just have to figure out what is right for you and your family. And don't worry! You're doing a great job!!

-- Bren (wayoutfarm@skybest.com), October 17, 2001.

My children have children now, but when they were little, they had their chores too. I started them making their own beds as soon as they were in a regular bed. It wasn't made perfect, but that was all right as practise makes perfect. I can't really remember what age they started various chores but they had them. It makes for a good work ethic. Now, I see that my daughter has her children doing chores at a young age too and I'm happy that she does.

-- Ardie/WI (ardie54965@hotmail.com), October 17, 2001.

Oh Bren you are so sweet. My kids are very active busy guys (but NOT hyper) and when left to their own devices for any length of time they can wreak havoc. from what I understand its pretty normal. freaks my hubby out but I try to take it all in stride..sort of! LOL Thanks Bren...was feelin' seriously undisciplined!! Ben pulled together his bed today, put his laundy away and got dressed by himself. I call that a good day. That and I got that peanut butter off the livingroom window. ;o)

-- Alison in N.S. (aproteau@istar.ca), October 17, 2001.

My DD 12 gets herself up in the morning, gets dressed, makes her bed, goes out and waters the horses, feeds & waters the cats, rabbits and chickens. She comes in and if DS is up, she gets them both breakfast. She's responsible for her room and getting herself ready for school. After school, she will go out and collect eggs and make sure food/water dishes are all full. She's also more than willing to dust, vacuum, do laundry (all jobs), clean the bathroom, sweep, mop, garden, weed, and do basically anything I ask her to do, without complaint. Don't ask me know I did that! Oh and she also does all the recycling on Saturdays.

I think children definitely learn by example. My soon to be four year old son taught himself to make his bed every morning, he cleans up after himself at meals, will NEVER leave a spill or food on the table, he has to clean that up. His room is always clean at the end of the day and the downstairs toys/books are also put away. His latest request was his own "Job," so now he's feeding the dogs twice a day.

My DD is a challenge but they are both absolutely great kids!

-- Lisa in WI (lehman16NOSPAM@vbe.com), October 19, 2001.

I agree that Lisa's children are great! LOL! They're my grandchildren!!

-- Ardie from WI (ardie54965@hotmail.com), October 19, 2001.

Cathy you could be rich ! Open a school on children training .My house is like Allison's

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@slic.com), October 19, 2001.

Patty, have you read my thread "This one's for Alison"? My dear sweet Ben is so much like her boys! Nathanael was the same way, but he is growing up too fast. Wish he was little again so I could give him a kiss (the "grown-up" Nathanael doesn't like kisses).

-- Cathy N. (keeper8@attcanada.ca), October 20, 2001.