My daughter has been helping me arround the house since she was little. The tasks she did where ofcourse very simple to begin with. Starting with cleaning up her own things to helping me cook a meal. She’s 12 now and I just learn her how to bake an egg for herself. She knows how the oven works although I only let her prepare oven breads yet and shove a pizza in.  Its great because it keeps her from getting lazy and learns her vallues and become independent. Yes, your children too can help you arround the house with little tasks. You could even give them a little pocketmoney for a job well done. Ofcourse it shouldnt go down to what you call slavery, they are not your free housemaid. Children need to have the time and space to be kids at all ages. And ofcourse you can not let them organize ur china cabinet at age 3, unless youthink its time for replacement of your wares LMAO. But they could learn how to fold kitchencloths, water the plants and making the table aside of picking up there own toys and putting them where they belong. Its not only helping you with your chores its also educating them on there vallues and showing them how things are done. It gives them a responcibility and makes them feel proud of helping. I found a few sites that listed tasks that your child can do at a certain age. Ofcourse I could have made my own list but why not just give those people credit for the jobs they did instead of trying to compete with them :).

Women News tells us about a bunch of task that your children can help you with, varying from age 3 till 15.  I will give you a few examples.

• Three and a Half to Five:In terms of food preparation, no one needs their lettuce torn up perfectly, so let them give that a try while you work on the rest of dinner.
• Six to Eight : Get your kids stripping their own beds, helping to separate the lights from the darks, and even folding their own laundry. If they cant handle everything yet then start simple, think about socks and towels :).
• Nine to 12: This group can be changing light bulbs for you, bathing the family pets and washing the car. ( I don’t know about bathing the pets but they sure could help you clean the cages from the pets, and washing the car meant for me a few extra coins in my pocket when I was a kid)
• 13 to 15: This age group can be changing the bed sheets by themselves and hang and fold your laundry all by themselfs. (I have to say that my 12 year old has been changing her own sheets since she was 10 though.)

Ofcourse you should be the judge when it comes to knowing what your children are able to handle and what not. One kid is not the other, some like it better then others and some do a better job at things then others because of that. Give them tasks that is not only boring but try find things the kid can make a little game out of. You will need to help them and explain and show how to do something. Don;t only critic on them when they did something wrong but show them how to do it right and applaud them for a job well done.

The Reel News write about how you could also set up your house so your kids can do more things themselfs so you don’t have to do everything for them. When they are at an age that they are able to help you unload the dishes, make sure that the plastic wares are low enough for them to reach in the cabinets, let the things they need to make lunch  also be reachable for them. Thank them and reward them occasionally. Don’t go overboard cause then they learn to get paid for everything they do for you. Helping someone should not only be done for the reward.

And last but not least I like to tell you about a family with 8 children. In that family everyone helps out except for the two youngest children because they are simply  too young still.  But with about 12 loads of laundry on one single day you simply need the help you can get. Read there story at Worldchild.org