Level 6 chores: practical tips and tricks
15 March, 2023
That's it! Your children have now become teenagers and have reached the last level of our Magnétos chore magnets! At the age of twelve (or older!), they're now able to do all of the following chores, corresponding to Level 6 of our Magnétos:
- Feeding and caring for the pets
- Walking the dog
- Washing the floors and vacuuming
- Washing and drying the dishes
- Folding/putting away towels and their clothes
- Washing fruits and vegetables and watering the plants
- Sorting clothes and doing the laundry
- Making cookies/muffins
- Mowing the lawn, raking leaves, tending the garden and shovelling snow
- Taking out the garbage, recycling and compost
- Putting away the groceries
- Washing the windows and the car
- Bringing their bedding to the laundry
- Emptying the dishwasher
- Tidying their room
- Setting, clearing and wiping the table
- Cleaning the kitchen and bathroom
- Dusting
- Getting the mail
Of course, most children this age are now almost completely independent and can therefore do most household chores without your help. Still, here are a few tips to encourage their cooperation and get the most out of daily chores:
- If your teens spend a lot of time with their friends and therefore spend less time in your company, take advantage of the times when they do their chores to chat with them and make it enjoyable, even if it means lending a hand!
- Are your kids asking for more independence? Set a number of household chores that must be done each week, but let them choose for themselves the time that suits them best to do them. On Saturday, if their chores still aren't done, simply require that they stay home until they're finished.
Are you ready to let your child do the laundry, but worried they'll ruin your favourite sweater? Print out this printable and post it where it's easy to see in your laundry room, to give them a handy reference for the meaning of the various symbols on clothing labels (we bet it'll be greatly useful for the whole family too!):
At the age your child is now, they're able to organize themselves more on their own and learn to structure tasks or projects efficiently. To help them do so more easily, give them this tool that will teach them to eat an elephant one bite at a time!
How to eat an elephant one bite at a time
Looking for more tips to encourage your little ones' independence? We've created a complete Independence Path for you, available exclusively to our Family Managers! There you can discover all the actions your child is able to do on their own, depending on their age and developmental level, across every area of daily life, plus a host of practical tools to help them. You'll discover that around the age of twelve, a child is now able to:
Eating
- Prepare their own packed lunch from A to Z
Dressing
- Rotate their clothes with the seasons
Personal hygiene
- Manage the inventory of their hygiene kit on their own
Household participation
- Maintain their bike
Time awareness
- Manage their schedule on their own
Environmental education
- Understand the importance of repairing what's broken
Financial education
- Better know consumer rights
- Understand how advertising can influence purchases
Social bearings
- Memorize their Social Insurance Number
Want to learn more? Get access to our entire Independence Path by signing up for our monthly Family Manager subscription!
Put these tips into practice
Get the whole family organized with Octave
Meals, chores, the calendar and routines for the whole family in one place: on everyone's phone and on the Station on your wall.
The app is free on iOS and Android.