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Old Enough 1.11. 9m/1
For Chores?
"
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Featuring
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EPHANTS!
at Cranbrook
Institute of Science
ELEPHANTS!
40 Million Years of Evolution
THE APPLETREE
Experience the wild and woolly
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INSTITUTE. OF SCIENCE
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Additional support by:
the anatomy and behavior of
elephants and their extinct kin.
ur middle child
just turned 7,
and announced
that he was ready
for a $1 raise in his allowance.
My husband and I told him
that was fine — as long as he
was ready to take on some
chores around the house. But
we wondered how much he
could handle.
At 7, he certainly was will-
ing to help, and ready to take
on the added responsibility, yet
we didn't want to burden our
young child with chores he
would find overwhelming.
It's important to choose
chores that are appropriate for
the age of your child. You want
to teach him new skills and
help him feel like a useful
member of the family, but you
don't want to give him jobs
that are so difficult he learns to
hate work or feels like a failure.
One way to find the right
jobs for your child and his age
level is by trial and error. Most
young school-age children I
know are ready for regular jobs
like making their beds and set-
ting the table. But at that age,
many children feel over-
whelmed by lengthy organiza-
tional tasks such as putting
away laundry or emptying a
dishwasher.
My children always liked
jobs better when they get to do
them their own way. Setting a
table, 7-year-old-style, may take
half an hour, but it will be fun
for the child (and look beauti-
ful) if he gets to create artistic
placecards and fold napkins
into elegant shapes.
If you're trying to decide
which jobs to assign your own
child, one good source is The
Portable Pediatrician's Guide
to Kids: Your Child's Physical
and Behavioral Development
from Ages 5 to 12, by Dr. Lau-
ra Walther Nathanson, FAAP
(HarperPerennial).
Dr. Nathanson advises giving
7- and 8-year-olds a maximum
of a half hour's worth of chores
a day, to be performed at regu-
lar times. Not performing a
chore, Dr. Nathanson says,
should have a well-understood
consequence: no television af-
ter school, for instance, until
the child's bed is made.
Here, from The Portable Pe-
diatrician's Guide to Kids, is a
list of chores a 7- or 8-year-old
can handle:
APPROPRIATE CHORES
• Make his or her bed.
• Tidy bedroom.
• Set or clean the table.
• Dry dishes.
• Take out trash.
• Dust or vacuum a room.
• Polish silverware or unbreak-
able items.
• Sweep, rake or shovel light
snow.
• Sort and fold laundry; match
socks.
• Make a sandwich or toss a
salad.
Pamela Redmond Satran is a contributing editor of Parenting
magazine.