4 year old and chores?

I think it's time to start asking Alex to do specific chores around the house. I made her clean her room last night, and I ordered a reward chart to help give her some positive reinforcement.

I'm wondering, for the other 4+ year old moms, what kind of chores do you ask your child to do? How often? How many?

Re: 4 year old and chores?

Don't have a 4 year old, but i can tell you what my 3 year does.

She sets the table for dinner.(no breakable plates-when we use paper she'll do those too, but she does the napkins and silverware, so does my 2 year old.)
Cleans up her toys
Makes her bed
Puts her dirty clothes in her hamper
Helps me sort and load laundry in the washer/dryer-my 2 year old helps too
helps me swiffer and dust

Re: 4 year old and chores?

The earliest chores for my sons included mostly things that were for themselves only. They'd set their spots for dinner, clean up their places after dinner (scrape their own plates, put their stuff in the sink, wash their own placemats), make their own bed, get their clothes and towels out for bathtime, clean up their bath toys after bath, make sure dirty clothes are put in the laundry, put their folded clothes away. A lot of what they did was 'help'. Like.. we are cleaning the office today so they'd have to help me by putting books away, making sure the floor was clear for the broom, making sure the top of the desk was ready for me to wipe down, etc..

As they got older we expanded the repetoir to include OTHER people. So - for example - Robbie will set the WHOLE table and Noah will clear it. Robbie will help with the dishes, Noah will wipe down the table. They help with cooking on the weekends. They pick my herbs for me outside, Robbie is learning to use a knife to help slice things. He uses a vegetable peeler well. Noah helps with putting stuff in bowls and getting prep work done. I'd get things done faster without them.. but I like that they are part of it. They each fold and put away their own clothes and get their own pajamas and towels for bath/bed still.

Message edited 10/19/2009 8:53:47 AM.