My current thought about life skills is to take a list of ‘chores’ that experts believe young children are capable of completing, and to start with the youngest ages and make sure my kids are capable of doing those chores, that they have been taught how to do them correctly, and then to move up to the more complex chores, and then eventually to check writing and caulking. So I am going to update this list as we go, I will go ahead and add anything my children (7 and almost 9) routinely perform with a passable level of proficiency. Items in italics are the next skill we will work to build (starting tomorrow).
Ages 2-3
- Dress themselves
- Help dust
- Feed pets
- Put dirty clothes in hamper
- Pick up toys
Ages 4 -5
- Help sort socks, underwear, etc
- Empty small garbage cans around the house into larger can
- wash baseboards with cloth and water
Ages 6-8
- Shower on own
- Fold own laundry and put away in room