»How soon should kids help out with the housework?«
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 Please log in to vote, thx very much! I saw Gov. Schwarzenegger's wife: ›Maria Shriver‹ on the Oprah show ♣ the other day & she's talking about the every day life of their family. It was a little bit surprising to hear that the Schwarzenegger kids help out with the housework, she said even her 8 years old son knows how to wash clothes in the washing machine. Then her daughter added, she finds it very strange that she's to clean up her own room, while all of her friends have maids to do that for them. Then there's ›Jessica Simpson‹ (who's in her 20s). I saw her in Newlyweds ♣ saying: "When i was a kid i never had to clean up my room, my mom always did it herself, but i'm learning, now i hang up my towel after i had a shower." So what do you guys think? What age should kids start to help out with the housework? [CLICK HERE TO VIEW THIS PICTURE] posted by a |
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| in-my-opinion.orgGirls and Boys, Body & Health, Food & Diet, Home & GardenHome & GardenHow soon should kids help out with the housework? |
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 Uhh I dunno, I had to when I was about 8 but then that sort of disippated and now I don't really do more than wash my own clothes. My families gotten smaller so there's a lot less work to do and clothes to clean, but it used to be hectic with a 6 person family and 2 siblings with enough clothes to make a gigantic mound in the laundry. I think it's good to teach them around 8-12 years, but not to enforce it crazily. I mean, it's better to share the work then to get a 10 year old to do the dishes every day and every night, that just ends up creating too strict an environment for the child. Ha but I'm probably a little too young to be commenting on raising kids... posted by hungarian kid |
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No, it's a great comment 
What was to me the most surprising (in a good way) in the Schwarzenegger issue though, that it's not the maid who does all the housework, i mean i thought most rich ppl just sit around & let other ppl do the cleaning for them 
I guess i was wrong 
posted by a |
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 Well, housework is housework, but cleaning up your own room is a different story. While helping parents to COOK something may be OK, being forced to clean up one's own "empire" may not. posted by knn |
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knn: Well, housework is housework, but cleaning up your own room is a different story. I think to ask a kid to clean up his/her room is asking him/her to do a part of the housework, i don't think it's a different story b/c the aim of doing housework is to have a clean house, right? So if your kid cleans up his/her room for you, you don't have to work with it yourself. posted by a |
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 My friend's son, at age 2 or 3, has been taught to pick up those "gumballs" that fall in your yard before my friend mows the grass. I think it's quite healthy to get kids involved in yardwork and housework at a very young age. [CLICK HERE TO VIEW THIS PICTURE] posted by Tiefling |
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 Cleaning up your own room and helping out with chores are different things. By telling your kid to clean up his/her room, it's sort of teaching the kid how to be organized, how to put things back where they were so that you don't end up with five bajillion things on the floor with no space to walk. Or so that when you need something you don't need to go through everything you own to find it. Helping out with chores is teaching the kid how to take part in the FAMILY'S responsibility, rather than the kid's own responsibility to clean up his or her mess. Starting from a very young age I was very organized and my room was practically spotless (and still is sparkling clean  ), but as for chores, I didn't start doing them until much later on...
I think it's probably healthy to have kids learn how to pick up after themselves at a young age, and chores aren't too bad as youngsters either. posted by nocturnal_anonymous |
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 I think kids should be allowed to help with whatever they want to help as soon as they are interested in it. I've read somewhere that children are very enthusiatic about housework at the age of 4-6 or even earlier, but are not allowed to help because parents think the child will spoil things or do it too slowly or whatever. So by the time parents are ready to trust the kid with some part of housework, the enthusiasm is long gone and instead of being a pleasure it becomes a nightmare. Cleaning however is different: who wants everything clean? The mother. The kid is fine in his messed up room where the chaos follows the kid's design. The mother wants the room to be in order. But if you gave your kid his own room, you cannot go around and order him how it should be kept? It's like giving a present and instructing what can and cannot be done with it, and watching them follow the instruction. nocturnal_anonymous: By telling your kid to clean up his/her room, it's sort of teaching the kid how to be organized I think children are better taught order and organization by watching it everywhere around the house, so probably if you want your kid to be organized, you must constantly show him an example. If he will know no other way of dealing with clothes than putting it carefully on the chair before going to bed, he will do it. The biggest problem here is that it is all pure theory so far: I like how it sounds, but I am not sure I will like how it looks when my own children will create a havoc in their room. I will be The Mother who wants the house to be clean... I will have to work on my attitudes I guess
posted by mymla |
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 I'd say when they hit double-digits is a roughly fair time to get them started on chores. Sure, the enthusiasm might appear earlier, and personally I think parents should give the child pointers to encourage it as well as to make it feel treated fairly, but assigning chores to them I'd say 10-14 is best. Keeping your room clean is a good way to learn getting organised, but no kid who is forced to do it will find it agreeable. My own room is an utter mess; I am simply too lazy to pick up after myself since I know someone else will do it when they can't stand it but when I am the sole person responsible for something I'm great at being organised. No child directed by their parents will feel self-sufficient or responsible enough to do it themselves, until and unless they do it out of a certain extent of initiative from themselves.
posted by ryder |
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mymla: I think children are better taught order and organization by watching it everywhere around the house, so probably if you want your kid to be organized, you must constantly show him an example. If he will know no other way of dealing with clothes than putting it carefully on the chair before going to bed, he will do it. I don't think so, since my house is overall pretty clean, but my sister's desk is the one area where I know there will be a big mess. I don't think the mother should FORCE the kid to clean up his/her own room, and the kid shouldn't have to view cleaning up his/her bedroom as a chore, but maybe if you taught the kid to put back things where they found it at a young age (and not only in their bedroom, but in everything they do), maybe they can carry these methods of organization with them throughout life in the future... posted by nocturnal_anonymous |
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 Tiefling: My friend's son, at age 2 or 3, has been taught to pick up those "gumballs" that fall in your yard before my friend mows the grass. I think it's quite healthy to get kids involved in yardwork and housework at a very young age. We don't have those in the dirrty dirrty south. posted by The Shadow of Agent 488 |
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The Shadow of Agent 488: Tiefling: My friend's son, at age 2 or 3, has been taught to pick up those "gumballs" that fall in your yard before my friend mows the grass. I think it's quite healthy to get kids involved in yardwork and housework at a very young age. We don't have those in the dirrty dirrty south. You must live in the southern part of Patagonia or in Antarctica. He's talking about the seed pods of the Sweetgum tree ( Liquidambar styraciflua .) They're all over the south of the US. posted by MijndSlavery Florida |
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The time now is 11 February 2012, 20:03 php B.B. |