Help please, poll for 9th graders

[Lizzie in Ma]

Can you please list the chores your dc are responsible for each day and the number of hours it takes them to do school each day.

Our 14 year old just decided to inform us that no one she knows from her youth group still has chores.

I would really appreciate the information.

 

Daily

make bed

neaten room

put away dishes

clean up after yourself

sweep

get mail

practice piano

add fresh hay to guinea pig cage (HER pet)

 

School

about from 9:30-4:00 including lunch break

[rieshy]

Your child has obviously not talked to my children:)

 

My 14 yo:

 

Dinner dishes every evening with her 16 yo sister

Family laundry (she also washes her college brother's laundry and he pays her weekly for the service)

Cleaning and maintaining her bedroom

Around 4 p.m. each day every child works for 30 minutes to an hour all-together with me doing whatever (vacuuming, straightening, dusting, shelving books, etc.) is necessary to clean the house after school is finished.

She cooks dinner about once a week- but not on a set night.

She rotates watching her little brothers during nap with 16 yo sister so that I can alternate taking her and her sister to the gym to work out.

Yard work as necessary with family on weekends

1 Deep cleaning chore on weekend that rotates- it might be mopping or bathroom deep clean or fridge scrubbing, etc.

 

However, she would not necessary list all these as "chores" because a lot of it- especially the daily house clean up and bedroom maintenance is just part of family life.

 

Hope this helps.

[Amy in TX]

Daily:

Dust and vacuum one room each (rotates throughout the house)

Wipe table and counters and sweep floor in kitchen after dinner

Dust mop living room floor

Dust mop stairs and upstairs hallway

 

Weekly:

Clean their bathroom

Dust and vacuum their own rooms

 

Dd15 spends about 8 hours/day on school work.

 

Dd13 spends somewhat less than that; it varies.

Edited December 2, 2010 by Amy in TX

[Julie in MN]

Okay, sorry if my 9th grader is one your dd has been talking to LOL!

 

But sometimes things are different than they appear.

 

My 9th grader has no formal "chores." (No tomatoes, please!) But our expectation is that he does what he is asked, when he is asked. This may be anything from cleaning his room right now because we're having guests, to run to the neighbor to help her, to make yourself dinner and give the cat her insulin shots because I'll be at the hospital all night with dad.

 

So she might meet kids like mine who don't have chores in the same sense that she does, but do have responsibilities to their families.

 

Julie

[MommyThrice]

I have 3 children and they rotate chores, so for one week each child will do one of these:

1. Load dishwasher after all meals, clean table and countertops.

2. Clean & put away all handwashable dishes (this add up in our family)

3. Care for dog, cats, and chickens twice a day and sweep kitchen daily.

 

We also have a 20-minute cleaning time before dinner (bathrooms one day, bedrooms one day, sweep one day, etc...) This actually happens about 3 times per week.

 

Is the youth group unfamiliar with II Thes. 3:10..."this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat." :)

 

School takes about 7 hours per day for my 9th grader, but it could drag out to 8-9 on lazy days. He also practices for a weekly guitar lesson and teaches a weekly guitar lesson.

[Rebecca VA]

Make bed

Straighten room

Clean two bathrooms each week

Take dog on a short walk each day

Feed dog (if someone else doesn't do it first)

Practice piano

Do schoolwork (approximately 6-7 hours a day)

Do ballet, pilates, or swim (approximately 2-3 hours a day)

 

She's been banished off the computer for the foreseeable future, so she has more time on her hands than she used to. She used to write stories and write to friends, but she abused her privileges by setting up unauthorized email, Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter accounts (during her online classes, no less), so she is very strictly monitored now.

 

Just added: Oops, I'm talking about my 8th grader here. Please ignore if you want to.

Edited December 2, 2010 by Rebecca VA

[Vicki]

My 14 year old ds does the dishes 3-4 times a week, polishes furniture once a week, cleans the bathroom once a week, does lawn care when needed, and occassionally runs the vacuum. He also gives the dogs a bath. He is the youngest of 5 and all my children have always done chores and helped around the house. Once they are in college fulltime and working they help out when they can.

God bless,

Vicki

[Mom22ns]

Okay, sorry if my 9th grader is one your dd has been talking to LOL!

 

But sometimes things are different than they appear.

 

My 9th grader has no formal "chores." (No tomatoes, please!) But our expectation is that he does what he is asked, when he is asked. This may be anything from cleaning his room right now because we're having guests, to run to the neighbor to help her, to make yourself dinner and give the cat her insulin shots because I'll be at the hospital all night with dad.

 

So she might meet kids like mine who don't have chores in the same sense that she does, but do have responsibilities to their families.

 

Julie

 

This is the way it works at my house too. We don't make beds, but each person is responsible for keeping their room reasonably clean. If it gets too messy, I'll tell them to clean it. My 8th grader does things like helping with laundry, taking out the trash, dusting, picking up, and setting/clearing the table at dinner time. If you ask him what chores he does, he would say none, but he probably spends between 20 min and an hour each day helping. On weekends we do more deep cleaning or yard work and he would be expected to spend at least a couple of hours at that.

 

As I said, he is just an 8th grader, but school runs roughly 6-2:00 with breakfast and lunch breaks. He is a morning person.

[Brilliant]

My 9th grader does most of what yours does (except sweeping - dd usually does that), plus he shares the weekly yard & pool care with my hubby. He also cleans his own bathroom weekly. I don't think he's overburdened.

 

Since my kids reached high school age and require less hands-on teaching, I have taken over more of the daily and weekly chores. It seems fair to me that their job is schoolwork, and mine is managing the household. So if the kids are getting started on their math while I clean the kitchen after breakfast, that works for me. But I agree with Julie in MN - if we ask dc to do something, they need to do it cheerfully!

[justamouse]

HA! Every ONE of my kids has chores.

 

my now 15 yo used to (and still does)

 

make dinner every once in a while (if I'm heading out, she'll finish it, too)

 

laundry

ironing

cleans the bathrooms to a hospital finish

vacuum

puts dishes away

walks dogs

cleans the birdcage

babysits

rakes

collects the garbage when needed

 

I allow her to keep her room the way she wants.

 

school -for HER-because she's a share time student, runs from 7:30 am to whenever she's done for the day. Last night she was on the couch at 10 pm doing science. She has a check off list for each day and she gets it done when she gets it done.

 

As another poster said, all of those are not 'chores' just what she does when she's asked. We're a working team here.

Edited December 2, 2010 by justamouse

[Liza Q]

Okay, sorry if my 9th grader is one your dd has been talking to LOL!

 

But sometimes things are different than they appear.

 

My 9th grader has no formal "chores." (No tomatoes, please!) But our expectation is that he does what he is asked, when he is asked. This may be anything from cleaning his room right now because we're having guests, to run to the neighbor to help her, to make yourself dinner and give the cat her insulin shots because I'll be at the hospital all night with dad.

 

So she might meet kids like mine who don't have chores in the same sense that she does, but do have responsibilities to their families.

 

Julie

 

We are also a chore-less family. After schoolwork is done I will ask them to do various things. Sometimes I need 15m of their time, sometimes I need an hour. Weekends also vary.

 

I am not a scheduled person - my house stays reasonably neat and clean but I can't keep track of chores at all. So I work on my children having a helpful spirit. It drives some of them crazy as they would rather know what they have to do and just do it, but they are stuck living with me - oh well!!!

[angela in ohio]

My 14 yo:

 

make bed, clean up room, own clothes, etc.

self care

 

We don't have specific chores for specific people, but this is what she usually does:

 

• does all laundry for herself and dd and ds (washes, puts away, mends, lays out clothes for 8 yo)
  
• does most of the dishes (loads dishwasher and 12 yo empties it)
  
• helps clean house up weekly (we all spend a few hours doing whatever is needed)
  

 

 

She often makes our bed before I get a chance. :hurray: She cooks dinner a few times a week, usually with help from younger dd or ds.

 

She is also required to practice her flute for an hour daily and do her phys ed time (30 mins.) She does 6 hours or so of school work a day, 6 days most weeks, plus reading.

[Melanie]

Can you please list the chores your dc are responsible for each day and the number of hours it takes them to do school each day.

Our 14 year old just decided to inform us that no one she knows from her youth group still has chores.

I would really appreciate the information.

 

Daily

make bed

neaten room

put away dishes

clean up after yourself

sweep

get mail

practice piano

add fresh hay to guinea pig cage (HER pet)

 

School

about from 9:30-4:00 including lunch break

 

My 9th grader spends about seven hours per day on academic work (math, Latin, Greek, English, logic, science/history), about ten hours per week on outside activities (sailing, theatre, piano), and 6-7 hours per week on piano practice. He and his sister are responsible for keeping the public areas (kitchen, living room, dining room, library) of the home tidy. One cleans the kitchen, and the other does everything else. They alternate days, and it takes about 30 minutes from start to finish.

[Brindee]

We've had chores since they were little and WANTED to help! :D It's all just being part of the family, though, and they expect to do them, so it's never really been a problem.

 

Each day DD does:

1 hour of piano practice

30 minutes of voice practice

Helps in kitchen

Feeds her dog and the 3 cats (2 of which are hers)

Cleans cat box

Takes the dog out for potty and walks

Keeps room decent (I don't require perfection, because then I'd be a hypocrite! ;))

Helps as and where needed

 

Each week DD does:

Cleans the bathroom that she uses

Gives the dog a bath (well, that's more like once a month if he's not gotten dirty)

We have a thorough housecleaning once a week, usually on Thursday or Friday

Empties certain trash cans

Vacuums stairs, her room, and elsewhere as needed

 

 

When the kids were young, I somehow managed to divide up chores that needed done and assigned them certain shores each week, which rotated. After awhile they asked if they could just keep the same chores so they'd know what to do and could do it. They decided what to do, I made sure it was fair, and they then did the same chores each day/week, with some variation depending on what was happening in the rest of our lives. Even now, when the boys are home, they all fall into those same jobs and automatically help out! I LOVE that! :D

[swimmermom3]

My 9th grader spends about seven hours per day on academic work (math, Latin, Greek, English, logic, science/history), about ten hours per week on outside activities (sailing, theatre, piano), and 6-7 hours per week on piano practice. He and his sister are responsible for keeping the public areas (kitchen, living room, dining room, library) of the home tidy. One cleans the kitchen, and the other does everything else. They alternate days, and it takes about 30 minutes from start to finish.

 

Melanie, you have me putting some serious thought into our schedule. For several years my children had public/private school and competitive swimming, both of which consumed huge chunks of the day leaving little time for anything else.I was fairly lax about chores. Now they are older, our lives are different, and I am seriously tired. I wish I had found a balance early on. It's more difficult to make a schedule and keep it when they are not used to it and are fairly competent in arguing.

[Jenny Piaaree]

My 16yo ds has daily and weekly chores.

 

Daily:

Makes bed

Sometimes feeds cats

Clears dinner table

Helps empty dishwasher

Sweeps kitchen

Light cleaning of bathroom

Takes out the garbage and recycling (every couple of days or so)

 

Weekly:

Does his own laundry

Deeper cleaning of bathroom

Vacuums family room

Light dusting

Helps with one or more monthly chores on rotation:

washing windows, heavy dusting, cleaning pantry, spot-cleaning woodwork, polishing furniture, etc.

Puts out and brings in the garbage cans

Washes the car (more like every-other-week)

 

Occasionally his dad assigns him yardwork.

(I haven't trained him in cooking or ironing much, yet. Should do that!)

 

He does school from 7:30 to about 2:30 or 3 with about 1:15 of breaks for meals/snacks.

[Donna A.]

Ditto what most of the others said. While we may call it "chores", which would typically refer to the everyday stuff like tending the pets and putting dirty clothes where they belong, we don't really have a schedule for it, per se. It's more like "teamwork" and everybody helps. We've always had a rule that "Everyone who lives in this house helps take care of it." Heck, I even remember taking my firstborn into the laundry room with me as a baby and "talking" through the steps of doing laundry so that she could learn. My mom never "taught" me how to do anything, and I had to learn it the hard way either just because she told me to (but then getting mocked for burning dinner because I didn't know how NOT to burn it), or later, after I was married and had to sink or swim for survival. (My poor husband!)

 

I don't remember the last time I cleaned my 15yo's room or made her bed or even changed the sheets. She's been solely responsible for her own room for years. (I wouldn't do it the way she likes, anyway! :tongue_smilie: ) I rarely have to clean the hall bathroom that the girls use, either. She (and her sisters) do a lot of other things that have been mentioned in this thread, as well.

 

I think most kids today grow up with an "entitlement" attitude. :glare:

[FloridaLisa]

Don't have a 9th grader but here are what my two high schoolers do:

 

Dd1:

make bed, tidy room daily

all the family laundry -- washing, folding, stacking in piles for us to put away

morning math time with the littles (about 30 minutes)

washes 2 bathrooms on Saturday (I wash the other two)

helps when as needed with fixing lunch or lunch cleanup, driving, and babysiting every now and again

she also works 3 hours Mon. - Thurs., classes at the community college and participates in voice lessons, youth group responsibilities, etc.

schoolwork -- I haven't added the hours. She studies a lot!

Ds2:

make bed, tidy room daily (usually this is a BIG project b/c it's an all boys room)

cleans pool daily (huge oak tree with leaves nearby), adds chemicals

morning play time with the littles (about 20-30 minutes)

various yard work, work on house or rental houses on Saturdays

helps when needed with fixing lunch, lunch cleanup, and babysitting

he also spends 20 - 26 hours a week playing for a basketball team, banjo and youth group responsbilities

Schoolwork -- I haven't added the hours, but it includes weekend now that basketball season has started.

 

**Also, when my kids bring up the "everyone else does . . . " or "no one else has to . . . " I just say, "Well, honey, the X family is not our standard. This is what we do in our family."

 

I'm sure you're doing fine, mom! Not only are our kids CAPABLE of helping, but they are VALUABLE members of our family and needed! Chores help show that, IMO. They will, Lord willing, have homes and families of their own one day and will be grateful for the training of how to manage a home. I actually find it difficult in a suburban environment to come up with enough work for my boys.

 

HTH,

Lisa

 

HTH,

Lisa

[anneofalamo]

my 9th grade son:

 

bed made daily

rotating chores with his brothers and sisters to include

 

animals (chickens and cat)

laundry - responsible for his on set day, completely

dishes each meal

garbage out

sweep house daily

vacumn weekly

dust bedroom weekly

mow lawns (front and back)

cleans gutters (monthly)

edge lawns

prunes bushes (as needed)

wipe down stove, counters and table

dust and windex

bathrooms (we have two)

clean out van and vacuum every week

straighten thru house daily

 

on his own

Makes dinner once a week

guitar 30 minutes a day

mows neighbors lawn

He irons his clothes and remembers my appointments lol, he is very organized and responsible.

[Kates]

My 13yo doesn't have formal chores, I've tried but I'm honestly not structured enough to keep them going...

 

However, he does what is needed to keep the household running, as it needs to be done - the same as dh and I do. He sweeps, vacuums, helps with laundry, does dishes, cooks, brings in groceries, walks the dog, puts away his stuff, etc. whenever he needs to - and whenever he's asked to, same as us. We don't have specific days or times set up for these things, and they're not assigned to anyone in particular, we just plain do them. There are times when our schedule gets crazy and these lag behind, but for the most part, we just all work together to get it done.

 

He does school 6-7 hours daily (on average), as well as 6-10 hours per week on Scouts, a few hours a week for karate, and currently, a community theater play. We just work the other stuff in wherever it fits.

Edited December 3, 2010 by Kates

[EKS]

My 9th grader does school from 8:30-5 most days with a 15 minute break for lunch. He also does schoolwork (reading mostly) from 7:30-9.

 

His chores are:

 

Daily

Make own breakfast (I'm not sure if this is a chore, but I'll include it)

Clean up after breakfast (his own mess only)

Make own lunch

Clean up after lunch

Clear and clean table after dinner

Tidy room and any other areas of the house he has messed up

Take garbage out of the kitchen if necessary

Violin practice

 

Weekly

Collect garbage from around the house and put in garbage cans

Collect recycling and put in recycling bin

Take the above out to the street (which is several hundred feet away)

Do own laundry

 

As needed

Help father with yardwork (depending on season: raking, mowing, digging, weeding, dealing with snow, etc)

Help father with firewood related tasks

Help parents when they are befuddled by technology (ie. computer guru)

Babysit younger brother

Edited December 4, 2010 by EKS

[AnitaMcC]

We don't have a set chore schedule. Everyone in the house is responsible to help with the house chores. We have 9 people living here. That said, the chores our teens typically do...

 

Take care of their bedrooms (I only ask they find the floor once in awhile and vaccum-LOL), their laundry, cleaning up afterself.

Take care of their pets.

Help with dishes (We have three parts to doing dishes: unload dishwasher, load dishwasher, wash pots and pans... we have one person do one part and it rotates through the household).

 

Other chores that they do whenever I or Dh asks them: picking up living room or kitchen, vacuuming carpets, sweep/mop kitchen, wipe down bathrooms, haul laundry hampers up or down stairs for me, take out trash, and other odd jobs (clean up basement, clean up garage, clean windows, etc), help with younger siblings.

 

Our teens usually school from 9am to 3pm. They also do some evenings and weekends as needed.

[Mejane]

My kids (one a 9th-grader) do not do regular daily chores. Between schoolwork (4 hours/day) and dance (6 hours/day), they simply do not have the time.

 

(I make them work on the weekends, though. ;))