What chores do your teenagers do?

[Pen]

And at what ages? And about how long per day or week?

[DragonFaerie]

Mine are young teens (okay, DS is 12, but close enough).  They clean their own rooms and bathrooms, including tubs and toilets.  They dust, Swiffer the floor, vacuum the basement, do their own laundry (at least fold and put away), care for the pets (including litter boxes and cleaning cages), empty the dishwasher and put their own dirty dishes in it.

[elegantlion]

Ds is 17. He vacuums, loads, unloads and sometimes starts the dishwashwer. He does his own laundry, will cook his own meals if I'm brain dead. He's in charge of garbage, and cleaning the cat box (hallelujah!). He helps in the yard as needed and can clean the bathroom, although I do it most of the time. He's very neat in general and without being asked will put on a new roll of TP when needed. He also helps with the recycling (we have to take it to a center) and grocery shopping. He's very handy and in many senses, we operate as roommates now. 

[foxbridgeacademy]

DD 11, and DS 13, they unload the dishwasher and are capable of loading it but not to my standards.  They both help clean the kitchen including sweeping, swiffer, and mop. Dd cleans the living room  1-2X per week including dusting, sweeping, mopping.  Ds cleans the bathroom (he can't clean the Living room due to Allergies).  DS takes out the trash and will often help me cook.  They can both make themselves simple meals, DD is more likely to make something that requires more work.  They can both clean their rooms but I don't catch them doing it very often.  Ds helped mow last year but will not this year, again his allergies.   I've thought about asking DD but she takes after her dad and it's often more effort to get them to do something they don't want to do then if I just do it myself.

 

There's really not much else to do, if I gave them more chores then I wouldn't have anything to do.

[TrixieB]

Laundry, dishes (by hand & dishwasher), dust, vacuum, prepare some meals, pet care, vacuum, sweep, take out garbage & recycling, help with grocery shopping (i.e. if I send dh, he does the driving/cart pushing/paying while the teen does the actual shopping from my list).

[Momling]

My girls (11 & 13) clean the kitchen together after dinner every night. It's their only official chore. We do ask them to clean with us from time to time or keep their rooms tidy.

[Chris in VA]

15yo maintains her room and does her own laundry.

When asked (which is frequently), she does the dishes, sweeps, cleans her bathroom (shared with brother), and does whatever else I tell her to.

She asked me not to give her a list, just tell her. So I do.

She likes a clean house and sometimes gets a little fed up with how things are, so she cleans.

 

Her brother is 25 and not a teen, but he keeps us in clean towels without being asked, and does dishes several times a week. He maintains his room (neatest in the house) and does his own laundry.

[SparklyUnicorn]

I ask myself this often.

 

LOL 

[KungFuPanda]

My oldest is in public high school, chamber choir, and drama. Between school, homework (she has a few AP classes) and rehearsals/performances she barely has time to come up for air. Her chores center around her self care. She cleans her room. She prepares most of her own meals because she won't eat school food and she's ready for dinner earlier than the rest of us. Unless I have dinner ready by five she'll cook something for herself. She does her own laundry. She'll also take care of her brother if DH and I go out. DS is 14, but he's in a wheelchair so there is an atypical level of physical care he requires.

 

It's not a lot chorewise, but she spends most of her day working on 'something' and has very little down time.

 

There are only a few chores DS can do, so the bulk of the housekeeping falls on me. I hate housework, but my family isn't all that messy and they're good sports about take-out if I'm in a dinner rut. None of them give me much help, but they don't complain either. I probably spend 2-3 hours a day on housework and food prep.

[greenvneck]

My now 16yo feeds the big herd, checks the calving cows, feeds the sheep, lambs them out, feeds the chickens, shears, gather eggs, irrigates, runs the baler, swather and rake, fixes fence, welds, cleans one bathroom, mops the kitchen, sweeps the back porch, does laundry, changes the oil in her car, gathers trash, fills the bird feeders, rakes and mows the yard, and grills the steaks!

But what about the dusting?  :lol:

[greenvneck]

I only have one teenager in my house right now, but here is what he does:

 

As needed:

--take groceries from van to house

--load/run dishwasher

--wash pots/pans/skillets that don't fit in dishwasher

--vacuum/swiffer/mop as needed

--dust

--his own laundry, weekly, including sheets & towels

--clean his bathroom, top to bottom

--amdro for ants

--help with any household maintenance stuff that dh does

--we have a lawn service, but if we didn't he would be mowing, edging, etc.

--supervising 10yo using stove/cooking when I'm not there

--does router maintenance when I can't figure out why the internet isn't working

--maintains a Minecraft server

 

 

[Tammi K]

The youngest teens still at home are currently 17 and 14 but the 21 year old also lives here and helps with all the chores.

Currently they:

*completely clean up after dinner, putting away food, all dishes, sweeping, mopping as necessary, emptying trash, etc

*completely clean their own bathroom

*fold all laundry

*mow lawn

*blow snow

*shovel snow from deck, steps, shed roofs

*feed animals

*clean up dog waste in yard

* seasonal stuff - washing windows, spring cleaning, any misc. chores as needed

* (the boys)  help their father with car maintenance (we're not sexist here. It's just the dd hates to work on the car and has figured out how to make herself scarce when her father mentions it. DS the youngest is still too sweet and naive to 'dodge the dad bullet' so he frequently is the poor soul who gets nabbed to help and ds the older has a car that is always seeming to be a source of frustration so he, of course, helps in exchange for dad's willing help when he needs it

 

All of the above is done well and completely without supervision. They've been pretty well trained over the years since they've always had older siblings to emulate.  I just tell them what I need for them to do and they do it with the exception of the after dinner stuff. They do that all on their own every night without any word from me.

 

[Pen]

My now 16yo feeds the big herd, checks the calving cows, feeds the sheep, lambs them out, feeds the chickens, shears, gather eggs, irrigates, runs the baler, swather and rake, fixes fence, welds, cleans one bathroom, mops the kitchen, sweeps the back porch, does laundry, changes the oil in her car, gathers trash, fills the bird feeders, rakes and mows the yard, and grills the steaks!

 

 

Wow!

[Melissa in Australia]

ds21 & ds19 are not home atm.

 

ds17 is not home much either- he is doing a diploma at the American equivalent of community collage. He has over an hour public transport each direction so leaves  before the sun comes up and gets home late. He feeds the dogs, walks his dog, chops the firewood and keeps the woodbox full.

 

dd15- empties dishwasher, hangs laundry on the day I work, cooks tea one night a week, takes the rubbish up each day, and collects kinderling

 

ds11 - feeds chooks, looks after his personal pets- pigeons and a  young   chicken, cooks tea one night a week

 

all of the above have a roster for doing the dishes every evening- one clears the table and loads the dishwasher, one washes, and one dries. they are all responsible for keeping their room clean including vacuuming and putting their own clothes away. they regularly do extra jobs that are not listed as their official chores

 

 

[Carrie12345]

My "real" teenager is only here a bit more than every other weekend, so there isn't a routine list.  He's expected to help with some yard work, the trash, basic tidying, unloading groceries, sometimes dishes, and a little child care here and there.  He also cooks a bit, mostly by choice.

 

My almost-teens (13 and 12 in the next couple of months) are in charge of 90% of the dishwashing, some pet care, cooking as needed, putting laundry away (their own and some household laundry, not other people's clothes,) watching the little boys for a couple of hours once or twice a week, and are generally expected to be helpful in other areas when asked.

 

I do think my kids are a little spoiled.  Not because of what their chores are or aren't, but because they complain that they have to do "so much", "all the time."  To be fair, I know they got my lazy/whine-y gene.  I still hate chores.  :tongue_smilie:

[MEmama]

My 12 yo does his own laundry, shovels snow, mows the lawn, vacuums his room when asked (he doesn't spend any time in there so it never really needs to be tidied), helps DH around the house and with things like bike maintenance, iron waxes his skis (that would be a chore for me--I refused to learn), makes most of his own lunches and other meals as needed/wanted, and generally helps out with whatever I ask. He likes to learn household care so he'll be prepared when it's time to go off to college. But there's not much else I can really ask of him on a regular basis or I'd be out of a job. I'm never too busy to do it all myself.

[Pawz4me]

We've never assigned routine chores to our kids other than maintaining their rooms.

 

Our requirement has always been that they do whatever we ask them to do and do it with a good attitude.  On any given day now that could range from absolutely nothing (other than their rooms) to doing heavy yard work and running errands for me.

[Guest]

My now 16yo feeds the big herd, checks the calving cows, feeds the sheep, lambs them out, feeds the chickens, shears, gather eggs, irrigates, runs the baler, swather and rake, fixes fence, welds, cleans one bathroom, mops the kitchen, sweeps the back porch, does laundry, changes the oil in her car, gathers trash, fills the bird feeders, rakes and mows the yard, and grills the steaks!

Summer camp at Margaret's place! Where do I sign up? (I also need DS15 to swing by USAFA for a tour and I know you could help me out here!) ;)

[The Girls' Mom]

The only "assigned" chores mine have are dishes and trash.  The three of them do dishes every night, rotating what part of it they do (wash by hand, load/unload the dishwasher, clearing/wiping down tables and counters).  They also rotate who takes out the trash.

However, they also do their own laundry, clean their bathroom, and keep their rooms clean (well, mostly..lol)  They also cook when asked and do whatever else I ask of them to help me out.  

We as a family don't spend a huge amount of time on chores..we just do whatever needs doing when it needs to be done.  

They are now almost 15(twins) and 18.  They have done the same amount of chores since they were 10 or 11.  They have ALWAYS helped with laundry and dishes in some way since they were about 2 or 3.

[TammyinTN]

My ds is 17 and he does everything and pitches in to help every Saturday when we deep clean.

• laundry
• dishes to include drying and putting away
• vacuum, mop and clean bathrooms
• strip beds and put on clean sheets
• mow the yard
• wash the cars and clean inside

He can do anything that I can and he does a great job.  That training has definitely paid off.  :D   He's a neat freak like me. 

[Reefgazer]

Two kids, ages 10 & 12, split the following chores weekly: take out garbage, clean our wood floor stairs, mop kitchen, sweep kitchen daily, clean both bathrooms.

[lllll]

..

[Luckymama]

She takes care of her room and the hall bathroom (she's the only one using it).

 

She does whatever else is needed, when asked.

 

Starting after the AP and SAT subject test season this year, she'll be doing her own laundry :D

[HeWillSoar]

My boys rotate between cleaning the kitchen, sweeping and taking out the trash, and they have to do the mowing and clean up the yard after the dog.  They are supposed to clean their bathroom, their rooms and also do their own laundry. 

[foxbridgeacademy]

My now 16yo feeds the big herd, checks the calving cows, feeds the sheep, lambs them out, feeds the chickens, shears, gather eggs, irrigates, runs the baler, swather and rake, fixes fence, welds, cleans one bathroom, mops the kitchen, sweeps the back porch, does laundry, changes the oil in her car, gathers trash, fills the bird feeders, rakes and mows the yard, and grills the steaks!

Sound like me as a teen, except no welding and our big herd were goats and I had to milk them daily.  

[sunflowerlady]

She does her down laundry, cleans litter boxes and helps with pet care, vacuums, does dinner cleanup a couple times a week, sometimes cooks dinner, helps clean bathrooms as needed, and generally helps out as asked.

 

The only real every day ones are litter boxes and pet care. Others vary according to what I need.

 

She is 16.

[Pen]

At some point, I trained all of them to run the house and property.  They took over everything.  My goal was that should something happen to both dh and me, our dc would be able to stay in the house and run everything and not have to depend on any relatives or anyone else.  (It was written up in our will.) 

 

Ages?  Seems like the youngest was almost a teen and the rest were older?  Up until that time, they had scattered chores without a really good system, unfortunately.  They could have taken over everything much sooner than they did. 

 

When did they do them?  It was up to them to work their particular chores in around their school and free time.  I didn't care when they did them as long as there was food cooked, clean clothes, etc., when people needed it.  The planning was up to them. 

 

 

How did you move from scattered chores without a really good system to trained to run the house and property?

 

We are at the "not really good system" stage, and my ds can do some things.  I see chores as part of training to be able to do "life."  But I feel like I myself am lacking a good enough system. 

 

My ds can do his own laundry, take care of chooks, and do some cooking...  I'd like to expand to where he'd be ready to take over everything if the need arose. Not that I want it to arise, but I also think it would mean he would be ready to function with all his adult lifeskills in place.

[mamahammer]

My kids (about to be 8/10/12) have a rotating chore list each week that includes:

Vacuuming, mopping, dusting, baseboards, Windows, and picking up the dining room, living room, hallways, laundry room, their bathroom, and kitchen. It also includes their bathtub, toilet, and counters.

 

They are responsible for their own rooms and laundry. And each day, they are assigned one pickup area (living, bathroom, kitchen) to be done in the afternoon before they go out to play with friends. They have a rotating schedule for feeding, walking, and picking up poop from the dog. They clear the table and do the dishes each night (unless one of them cooks, then they are exempt from cleaning). They're also responsible for trash.

[lllll]

..

[Reefgazer]

I want my own two-seater outhouse. That way I can to take my social calls whenever the opportunity arises. 😀

Sure we'll do summer camp! But a warning to all--I don't do whine! Seriously, we need our kids to help out. I don't know what we're going to do in 2 years when dd is gone. If middle is able to go National Guard, she'll come home to work the ranch, but if not, we'll probably go back to what my pils did--clean out the bunkhouse and start renting to students. . They (and we) had a whole string of kids who lived in the bunkhouse in exchange for 20 hours a months of chores. For some reason, we seemed to specialize in geology students, and then had a string of kids from the same family. We ended up with one girl whose family was the test case for the CO law that was changed in '88. And she's now hsing her dd! There is no running water in the bunkhouse, but there is a 2-seater outhouse! And electricity. They heat with wood, which we provide. The boys figured out that if they brought in a toilet seat and hung it behind the wood stove that it was considerably warmer than the seats in the outhouse at -40...

[mamahammer]

I found cleaning checklists for each room in the house on Pinterest and divided the checklist into three parts (for three kids). Each day is a different room (so, everyone is working on the same room on the same day - living room day, kitchen day, etc). And I made an excel spreadsheet for that has each kids' chores M-F that sits on our fridge door. It's a three week rotation, so no one has to do the same thing every time. I have all 3 weeks worth of spreadsheets printed and inside a sheet protector, so each week, I just move the next week's spreadsheet to the front.

 

If we go on vacation or get off schedule or the house is just randomly in chaos, I have the room checklists from Pinterest printed and laminated, hanging on a hook on a wall in each room,and everyone just gets assigned a room and goes through the checklist.

 

To make it easier, each shared room has its own cleaning bucket with any supplies they'd need to clean that particular room.

[kroe1]

I have never given my kiddos chores, yet, they can do anything I can, even pay bills. Since I have always worked long hours, it is a matter of survival for them. I do need to teach DD14 how to fix her toilet, however.

[Pen]

I have never given my kiddos chores, yet, they can do anything I can, even pay bills. Since I have always worked long hours, it is a matter of survival for them. I do need to teach DD14 how to fix her toilet, however.

 

 

That sounds impressive. How did you achieve it?

[OnTheBrink]

DD is 17 and does whatever chores I give her for the day. Usually, they include cleaning cat boxes, dishes, her own laundry, tidying up. She will sometimes cook. It's just her and I (she and I?), so there aren't really "set" chores--just what needs to be done.

[kroe1]

That sounds impressive. How did you achieve it?

Mainly because I only had one kiddo living at home at a time. The family workload was never a huge amount requiring chores for family survival. Therefore, I had more options. Since chores just seem to make kids adept at avoiding them, I decided not to have any. So things like taking out the garbage, running the vacuum cleaner, making dinner, etc. was fun for them when they chose to do it. I am sure it would not be fun for them had they had to do anything on a regular basis.

 

In addition, with the last kiddo, we used mommy's chores as an excuse to get up about every 15 minutes during school to combat her need to move. She learned through observation really. Now that I work so much she does a lot of stuff for herself because she knows it would not get done otherwise in time to meet her needs.

 

The oldest one got additional training from his wife. Lol.

 

Thanks for asking. I doubt my method would work for large families with lots of things that have to be done.

[fairfarmhand]

No typical chore assignments other than doing their own laundry and cutting grass.

 

Other than that, I tell them when something needs to be done and they do it when I ask them.

 

Usually, it entails mowing once a week in the spring, summer, and fall; caring for their own laundry, either loading or unloading dishes, and doing 1 bathroom cleaning chore per week, along with caring for their own junk and rooms.(those are pretty much the only routine chores)

 

However, it is not uncommon for me to ask them to do one housecleaning chore per day, but it is usually not the same one as the day before. It's just whoever happens to be nearby. I'm in the habit of cleaning the common areas of the house every afternoon/evening, so usually they vacuum or dust or sweep or something every day in the common parts of the house.

 

I don't worry too much about bedrooms, so the bedrooms are typically fairly messy.

 

We also expect them to help with whatever farm chores we need them for. My  younger kids do the routine feeding of chickens and pets, but my older kids get things like "Hey, help me move the bull to the front field." or "Take the 4 wheeler out to the back field and move that salt block to where the cows are."

[Ottakee]

Thought I had that in there! Yes, Tuesday is dusting day. I can't do it--my allergies are too bad. I did all the vacuuming today and I still can't breathe!

 

My kids have always had a HUGE list of chores--oldest had 8 stalls to clean in there. We always figured that the kids should be able to do pretty much everything by about 13. I remember coming home once, to my then 14yo, rather messy. She informed me that she'd put a heifer in the head catch, roped her hind foot because she was a kicker, pulled the breech calf and had it up and nursing. She apologized for not tagging it and weighing it as she was going to be late to orchestra. 

i LOVE this.......what a great dd you have.

 

I heard an Amish saying once that 0-7 kids are a burden (meaning they make more work than they can help with), 8-13 they can help with as much work as they create and 14 and up they should be an asset to the family.  I think that is a fairly good rule of thumb.

 

I have 3 special needs kids-----2 of them have IQs in the 50s and one just in the mid 70s.  They can serious do just about anything except the cooking.  Even the 100 pound little thing can go outside, bring in 3 horses, feed them, brush them, clean their feet out, fill their water tanks, put out hay, turn out the horses, clean stalls (and the pastures and arena), move bales of hay that weight over 1/2 what she does, etc.  Normally I do try to supervise her just to be extra safe but the kids can get the horses, trailer them up, etc. if needed as well.

 

Granted no one can drive and 2 of my 3 have academic skills in the 2nd/3rd grade range and the other a 4-6th grade range but they do extremely well.