Chores and Children

I came across this picture recently.

It isn't the first time I have seen it.  It has been circling the internet for quite a few years.  But as my children get older I begin thinking what all they should be doing.

I consider myself a very independent adult.  In tandem with that, I feel like I was an independent kid.  A little too independent if you ask my parents.   I was always up for digging in and trying to do something new by myself.

Today I am a little more cautious when trying new things.  My wife will tell you exactly what I say.  "Let me read about it."  I do my reading and research and then dive in.  This is one of the few things about myself that I really take pride in.  I want to teach those skills to my kids.

I feel like a huge part of that was having responsibilities as a kid.  I had chores (more than my sister if you ask me).  On top of that my dad was a self-employed contractor.  From 5th grade until my junior year of college, I worked for my dad.

As you know my deal in life is to keep it simple.  Where I fail on this is, while my kids are young it is "more simple" for me to just do it for them.  But the older I get, I find that I have failed them time and time again because there are many things they can't do.

I want them to know I am there for them.  And for the record, I am not promoting complete independent at an ages 5 and 9.  I do look at this chart and agree that my children should at "be able" to do these tasks, whether or not they do them on a regular basis or not.

Although it might be tough and try my patience, (and let's face it, after teaching all day my patience is usually thin) my life will be much more simple with my children being able to take care of all of these basic tasks themselves.

This is already much longer than I anticipated.   I would love to have other families weigh on on your thoughts of chores and things you have your kids do.  Kelly and I are always open to better ways to parent.  Can't hurt to hear as many options as you can right?