Teenagers will mature more effectively when they are assigned a portion of household chores as their share of family duties
No matter where you live or the makeup of your family, if you have teenagers, they should be helping with housework. In fact, every member of the household should be contributing toward the laundry, house cleaning, or lawn care.
Providing teens with this opportunity allows them to get used to the idea of running a household and caring for themselves rather than relying on others to do these things. Beginning at a young age, all kids should learn to handle age-appropriate household chores until, by the time they are teenagers, they can manage a home on their own.
If your teen has been given an increasing amount of responsibility since early childhood, it may be time to "graduate" him or her toward a more adult level of responsibility. Here are some typical tasks that a teen should be able to do:
1. Cleaning the bedroom. Assuming your teen son or daughter has his or her own room, it should be cleaned each week in conformity with the rest of the house. This could involve dusting the furniture like a dresser or chest, vacuuming or mopping the floor, washing the bedding and rugs, picking up clothes and putting them away, organizing books, music, and other belongings. It wouldn't hurt to open the window and air out the room with fresh air, either.
2. Handling laundry. Certainly a teen is old enough to manage his own laundry after a parent demonstrates the right way to use detergent and the machinery. You may want to let him do the family's laundry as well, or at least part of it, like sorting, folding, or putting away (or setting on family members' dressers) their freshly washed and dried clothes. You might introduce the task of ironing, but nowadays few clothing types are consistently ironed or pressed. Help him learn to distinguish between what can be laundered and what needs to be dry cleaned.
3. Pet care. Encourage your teen to take responsibility for the household pets. This can include walking the dog daily, cleaning kitty litter, scheduling and taking pets for veterinarian visits, playing with pets, and ensuring they receive proper food, water, and medicine (if needed). Grooming and training are additional options if the teen's schedule and interest warrant them.
4. Lawn work. You may want to put your teen in charge of lawn care. She can do the regular mowing, raking, weeding, edging, and trimming, along with any gardening that needs to be done. Outdoor tasks may include sweeping the sidewalk, plowing the driveway when it snows, and cleaning trash cans periodically. Washing the family's vehicles can be added to this list, especially if the teen is driving one of them.
5. Housekeeping duties. Every teen should know how to wash dishes (or load the dishwasher), dust furniture, vacuum carpets, sweep steps, put away clutter, clean bathtubs, and scrub toilets. In addition, it's a good idea to teach them how to plan and cook all kinds of nutritious meals, from breakfast to lunch and dinner, along with snacks or packed lunches. Grocery shopping and budgeting are important skills to throw in the mix before your young adult graduates high school and goes out into the world.
While all of this sounds like a lot to learn and do, you can teach it in stages so that very gradually your children will be able to do a competent job at all of these things. Then when they are living on their own in a college dorm or in an apartment and making a living, you can rest easy, knowing that they can take care of themselves.
No matter where you live or the makeup of your family, if you have teenagers, they should be helping with housework. In fact, every member of the household should be contributing toward the laundry, house cleaning, or lawn care.
Providing teens with this opportunity allows them to get used to the idea of running a household and caring for themselves rather than relying on others to do these things. Beginning at a young age, all kids should learn to handle age-appropriate household chores until, by the time they are teenagers, they can manage a home on their own.
If your teen has been given an increasing amount of responsibility since early childhood, it may be time to "graduate" him or her toward a more adult level of responsibility. Here are some typical tasks that a teen should be able to do:
1. Cleaning the bedroom. Assuming your teen son or daughter has his or her own room, it should be cleaned each week in conformity with the rest of the house. This could involve dusting the furniture like a dresser or chest, vacuuming or mopping the floor, washing the bedding and rugs, picking up clothes and putting them away, organizing books, music, and other belongings. It wouldn't hurt to open the window and air out the room with fresh air, either.
2. Handling laundry. Certainly a teen is old enough to manage his own laundry after a parent demonstrates the right way to use detergent and the machinery. You may want to let him do the family's laundry as well, or at least part of it, like sorting, folding, or putting away (or setting on family members' dressers) their freshly washed and dried clothes. You might introduce the task of ironing, but nowadays few clothing types are consistently ironed or pressed. Help him learn to distinguish between what can be laundered and what needs to be dry cleaned.
3. Pet care. Encourage your teen to take responsibility for the household pets. This can include walking the dog daily, cleaning kitty litter, scheduling and taking pets for veterinarian visits, playing with pets, and ensuring they receive proper food, water, and medicine (if needed). Grooming and training are additional options if the teen's schedule and interest warrant them.
4. Lawn work. You may want to put your teen in charge of lawn care. She can do the regular mowing, raking, weeding, edging, and trimming, along with any gardening that needs to be done. Outdoor tasks may include sweeping the sidewalk, plowing the driveway when it snows, and cleaning trash cans periodically. Washing the family's vehicles can be added to this list, especially if the teen is driving one of them.
5. Housekeeping duties. Every teen should know how to wash dishes (or load the dishwasher), dust furniture, vacuum carpets, sweep steps, put away clutter, clean bathtubs, and scrub toilets. In addition, it's a good idea to teach them how to plan and cook all kinds of nutritious meals, from breakfast to lunch and dinner, along with snacks or packed lunches. Grocery shopping and budgeting are important skills to throw in the mix before your young adult graduates high school and goes out into the world.
While all of this sounds like a lot to learn and do, you can teach it in stages so that very gradually your children will be able to do a competent job at all of these things. Then when they are living on their own in a college dorm or in an apartment and making a living, you can rest easy, knowing that they can take care of themselves.
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