Family tasks: chores by age
Chores by age, from two to thirteen and up, each list short enough to actually happen: toys into one basket at two, set the table at four, empty the small bins at six, vacuum a room at nine, a load of washing start to finish at thirteen. Below it, a blank weekly chart to write names and jobs on.
Name the job exactly, do it with them the first few times, then accept their standard. The chart is for the fridge, not the argument.
What is on the sheet?
2 to 3
What makes it stick: Expect it to be done badly and slowly. That's not a reason to take the job back.
4 to 5
What makes it stick: Name the job exactly. "Tidy your room" means nothing to a four-year-old; "put the books on the shelf" gets done.
6 to 8
What makes it stick: Give them one job that is genuinely theirs and never quietly taken back. Ownership does more than any reward chart.
9 to 12
What makes it stick: Being trusted with real work lands better at this age than being praised for small work. Raise the job, not the praise.
13 and up
What makes it stick: Framed as "help me out" it's a negotiation. Framed as "you'll need this in three years" it usually isn't.
The house rules
This week's chart
Write a name and a job on each line. One tick a day.
| Name · job | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Why each age can manage what it can, and how to make it stick: kids' chores by age. The Sunday family reset puts the jobs into forty-five minutes.
wheredoesitgo.au/printablesEverything has somewhere to go.Free to print and share at home
What usually comes up?
How many jobs should a child have?
One that is genuinely theirs, every week, never quietly taken back. Add a second when the first happens without asking. A chart with eight jobs on it for a six-year-old is a chart nobody follows.
Should chores be paid?
Some families pay, some do not, some pay only for extras beyond the basics. All three work. Deciding once and not changing the rules halfway is what matters.
Where do the bags go afterwards?
Op shop, refund, drop-off or bin: Where does it go? answers it by state. The other sheets are on the printables page.