Parenting- Chores- Children

[Liss]

CLOTHES WASHING:

mine learned to do wash early .. probably 7 ish

even my dd who is mentally retarded and was TINY did wash .. I had to

break it down into easy steps just like everything else .. ie: first 3

days she learned how to pull out the button on washer (standing on

step stool to reach it), second 3 days was turning it to the right

spot (mark with sharpie), then it was how to open the door, how much

soap, etc etc it took a while, but then everything did .. In reality

waiting till she was older meant she would have had tons of life

skills to learn

I had 1 bed wetter till almost 11, I started kids early so it wasn’t an issue

COOKING

mine learned to cook early too .. Mine started tossing things into the

crockpot when really little (I opened the cans at first)

again it was baby steps , how to peel carrots, break eggs, electric

can opener, etc etc .. But by the time Bonnie was 8 she could cook

spaghetti sauce from scratch – that meant using canned tomatoes,

cutting onions, carrots, and other veggies, adding spices etc ..

It took 2 years of working with B before she could cook without a

recipe on simple things like tuna salad, she was probably 12 by then

.. She’s also OCD, so if we didn’t have carrots she thought she

couldn’t make it without them

The recipe I wrote out about 4 years ago (she would have been 17-18)

for pizza is 2 pages long because I have in it when to put hot water

in sink, and put the dough hooks in so the dough won’t turn to cement

.. I was trying to eliminate the need for verbal cue from me – get her

ready for real life

CLEANING:

cleaning generally meant I had to be there all the kids (and myself)

are ADHD that meant we used lists, lots of lists

I have posters on the wall of every room of what needs to be done

If I had to do it again I would use a digital camera and take pictures

of what it is supposed to look like

I had the closet wire shelving as wall to wall floor to ceiling

shelves for the kids rooms, dish pans with pictures and words of what

belonged in them ..

Clothes were also in the ‘bins’ it saved huge amounts of hassles ..

When clothes are dry send a munchkin up for their underwear, Tshirt,

shorts, PJ etc bin .. they bring up and put on shelf … last one is

the sock bin and toss them in it (have them toss and count) .. we also

did colours using the T Shirts etc

Toys were in the bins so one would be just the hot wheels (pic drawn

by me of hotwheels and CARS & TRUCKS written in sharpie) again pickup

was by colours or using numbers “toss in 5 cars not red’ ..

SNOW REMOVAL / YARD:

I had 27 different sized wheelbarrows in my yard when I had 5 kids, so

the littles could help too .. I had mini snow shovels too .. We are a

family and there are some things that EVERYONE needs to help on

MISC LIFE SKILLS – this is the catch phrase in schools etc

Chores are the lessons of life – they will grow up and need to be able

to make a balanced meal selection, and cook their own meals .. You are

doing NO HARM by teaching them HOW to cook .. Try pizzas from scratch

on days they have friends over (you can start it in the morning with

the kids), You’d be surprised how many kids are excited about making

food at your place

Generally they are NOT going to have maid service so they need to know

how to clean the bathroom (mine didn’t do that till late teens), how

to do wash, and how to wash dishes BY HAND so there are not dried food

particals, surrounds by grease ..

Do they help with writing out checks for bills? (*you sign of course)

This enables them to understand the costs of living in real life .. Do

they know how to balance a check book? Do they handle money? Save?

Do they have basic first aid skills?

Ria

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