One of the big challenges to being involved with the kids and household is balancing children and housework. The kids need your attention – they thrive on it – but the house isn’t going to run itself. And it continues to be a challenge with changes and tweaks as activities multiply, kids grow and more critters enter the house. It can become a point of contention between you, your mate and the kids as well.
Despite the changes that occur, there are some constants however.
- Housework doesn’t end. It simply continues to a new cycle of the same tasks to be done. If you feel like it’s never done, that’s because it isn’t.
- With children comes stuff. It accumulates fast and in no particular order and you’ll have a constant battle of what to keep versus discard.
- Even when you ask nicely, even including please, a child can respond in an unpleasant fashion. Until they’re old enough to learn that things don’t just happen, unpleasantries like chores will interfere with the important job of play.
- Even as chores remain the same, the age of your children will dictate how the frequency of the chore. Everything happens more often with younger children.
What Chores and How Often?
With the constants out of the way, here’s a basic chore roster of the PracticalDad household. Remember that it might not work in every household, but it’s a point of departure for building a schedule.
| TASK | FREQUENCY |
| Making Beds | Daily |
| Changing Bedlinens | Weekly |
| Dusting | Weekly |
| Vacuuming | 2X / Week |
| Clean Tubs/Showers | Weekly |
| Toilets |
2X / Week |
| Bathroom Sinks | 2X / Week |
| Dishes | Daily |
| Sweep Kitchen Floor | Every other day |
| Clean Kitchen Counters | Daily |
| Mop Kitchen/Bath Floors | Weekly |
| Laundry | Daily |
| Empty Household Trash | Every other day |
Remember that this chart assumes that the kids are old enough to be in elementary school. When they’re young, the frequency of what’s done will increase.
Dramatically.
This last is just a starting point and doesn’t cover all of the other aspects of cleaning house. Other tasks might include cleaning windows and woodwork, animal care, grocery shopping and cleaning the refrigerator.
In the next series of articles, we’ll cover some of the ins and outs of the items on the PracticalDad chore chart.