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РусскийChores for 10 year olds: whole tasks, start to finish
Ten-year-olds can take on whole tasks, not just pieces: the full load of laundry, the whole kitchen after breakfast, the entire dog walk. It's also a good age to start talking about money and work.
What a 10-year-old can handle
Ten-year-olds have finished the American Academy of Pediatrics list for 8 to 10 (vacuuming, helping with dinner, snacks, pet walks, laundry and groceries put away) and can start on the 11 to 12 list with some help: unloading the dishwasher, changing bedsheets, doing laundry and cooking simple meals with supervision.
The big change at ten is the ability to handle a whole task: not "put the plates in", but "the kitchen after breakfast". That's where real responsibility starts.
Daily chores for a 10-year-old
- Make their bed and keep their room tidy
- Unload the dishwasher
- Take out the trash and recycling
- Make a simple breakfast for themselves, sometimes for a sibling
- Feed and walk the dog
- Pack their own lunch
Weekly chores for a 10-year-old
- Start a load of laundry and hang or dry it
- Change their own bedsheets
- Clean the bathroom sink, mirror and counter
- Vacuum and dust a shared room
- Cook one simple dinner with you, from recipe to table
- Put away all the groceries
- Help with yard work: weeding, raking, watering
Teach a whole task with a checklist
"Clean the kitchen" is vague. A 10-year-old can do it perfectly well if they know what it includes. Write it down once and tape it inside a cupboard:
Kitchen after breakfast: dishes in the dishwasher, milk and butter back in the fridge, crumbs off the table, table wiped, counter wiped, chairs pushed in.
Do it together twice, then let them use the checklist alone. You can do the same for the bathroom, their room or the laundry.
Contribution chores and paid jobs
Ten is a natural age to separate two kinds of work:
- Contribution chores: the daily list. Not paid, because everyone in a family helps.
- Paid jobs: bigger or extra tasks, like washing the car, cleaning the garage or a big garden job. The price is agreed before the job starts.
This keeps the basics out of negotiation and still teaches that extra work can earn money. If you prefer points over cash, an app like KUDOZ lets kids earn coins for quests and spend them in a reward shop you stock yourself.
When they push back
Ten-year-olds argue well. Rather than debating every chore, involve them in setting the list once a month: which chores, which days, what happens when they're done. A child who helped write the rules has a hard time arguing against them.
Next: chores for 11 year olds. Previous: chores for 9 year olds.
Questions parents ask
What are good chores for a 10-year-old to earn money?
Jobs beyond the daily contribution work well: washing the car, deep-cleaning a room, weeding the garden, helping with a big clean-out. Agree on the price before the job, not after.
Can a 10-year-old do laundry?
Yes, with teaching. Start with sorting, loading and starting the machine, then hanging or drying, then folding. By 11 or 12 most kids can do it start to finish.
Sources
- American Academy of Pediatrics, HealthyChildren.org, Chores and Responsibility (updated February 2024).
Turn the chart into a game.
KUDOZ is a family app that does all of this for you: quests, XP, coins and a reward shop your kids actually want to open. Available on iPhone, coming soon to Android.
This guide shares general parenting information. It is not medical advice and does not replace a diagnosis or a care plan from a qualified professional.