In a recent New York Times article titled, "Age Approriate Chores for Children and Why They’re Not Doing Them," written by Motherlode columnist KJ Dell’Antonia was sparked after the above photo was posted on Maria Montessori’s Facebook Page and the comments it had generated. The reason that the writer gave for why children were not doing their chores was drawn from her own personal experience:
We have a chore wheel, perused with dedication to determine who feeds which animals at which part of the day, but several of the chores on it (“clean kitchen” and “empty dishwasher” spring to mind) go undone. Even our older children feel lame about this. “You should make us do our chores,” my 9-year-old told me recently. “Or you shouldn’t give us, like, half of our allowance.” (Allowance isn’t tied to chores at our house, although we’ve gone through haphazard efforts at taking it away if things aren’t done.)
There were those who opposed and those who supported the implementation of the list. The reasons of having children do or not do the chores is purely based on the personal values of each household as the articles illustrated by publishing some of the comments.
The list was created by Jennifer Flaunder, an author and stay home mom, based on their family’s philosophy on children’s chores after being asked by other parents what type of chores did they let their kids do. She gives tips of her own about this list:
Of course, every child is different, and some will need more supervision than others, over a longer period of time, before they can complete the chore up to standard. But try to be an encourager rather than a drill sergeant while you are training your children to do their work and to do it well.
Also remember that working side-by-side — or at least in the same corner of the house or yard — is good for camaraderie and morale, as is putting on some lively music to work by.
The Flaunder Family’s has a printable version of the list.
Photo courtesy of the Flaunder Family website.
