Kitchen Duties for Children After Mealtime

No Weekly Review today since not much happened around here last week and therefore, not too many pictures were taken.  I was busy getting some Christmas gifts together that I can’t even tell about because I have to keep them secret. 

shhh…

So, in lieu of my Weekly Review that I usually do on Monday’s, I thought I would tell you how our family does kitchen chores after each meal.  It works quite well with our family of 6 children.

First off I wrote down a list of jobs that needed to be done when each meal was over…

clear table

put food away

wipe off counters

sweep floor

load dishwasher

put food preparatory items away

wipe chairs down

I tried to think of enough jobs for my 5 older children.  My youngest was 4 at the time.

The job of wiping down chairs I assigned to my then-6 year old since the other tasks would be a bit more complicated.  I combined the job of clearing the table and putting food away since clearing the table is pretty cinchy. We then wrote down each job on a piece of paper and the kids drew one out of the cup.  This was now their chore until we drew jobs again a few months later.

Now when mealtime is complete,  everyone automatically does their job (except for my now-7 year old – gotta work on that still 🙂 ).  To solve the problem of some of the children leaving the kitchen before their job was completed, I would set the timer for 15 minutes.  If they didn’t have it completed within that time frame, they would then be responsible for everyone’s duties next meal time including any hand washing which I usually did.  This was a good incentive for those that had trouble!

That’s how it’s done in our household which includes my boys and daughter.  It usually ends up being a time of discusion and I think it can build cameraderie since everyone is busy with their hands – having a responsibility.  It is really great, too, when they learn the different skills in the kitchen because there’s times when you just aren’t able to do it all and they are able to step in for you.  I think it teaches the boys to be thankful for the work that is done on their behalf and to show their appreciation (even though they may not realize it in the younger years) to mom by helping.  Also, be sure to tell your children how much you appreciate their help.

How do you approach kitchen jobs at your house?  Do you have children help in the kitchen?  What’s worked for you?  I’m sure everyone would appreciate any thoughts you might have on this.

Just a mom trying to raise thoughtful and helpful children…