Housework according to age: what Montessori tells us 2026

Promoting the child's autonomy helps him develop his knowledge, his personality and helps him grow. Doing it the right way is essential to not raise baby children who don't know how to do anything at two, three and four years old.

It is necessary that they leave the baby stage through knowledge and learning. In this, autonomy plays a very important role. By teaching them this, they will learn to stop seeing us as their suppliers and, in addition, they will acquire the knowledge to help us as much as they can without protesting when we tell them to.

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Help with household chores will be very good for enhancing the development of motor, psychomotor and sensory abilities. Of course, making them see that their help is very important is essential to reaching the goal, this way it will make them feel very important and fulfilled.

Of course, we will always have to keep in mind that it is not good to force them to do something, but rather to invite them to do it. So that they don't see it as an obligation, we can make the tasks fun: playing, singing, or even dancing.

All household chores do not carry the same responsibility and degree of difficulty, so they will not be able to do them all at the same age. In that, Montessori pedagogy inspires us again with a table that divides household chores according to the age of the children.

According to Doctor Montessori, children love order and discipline, which leads them to active obedience, but never submissive. After observing the behavior of children in classrooms for more than fifty years, he concluded that the best method to help them with their development is stimulation.

We will not teach the same tasks to a two-year-old child as we do to a seven-year-old child (the difference in intellectual and physical development is abysmal). Therefore, as we have been saying, it is very important to know what they can do depending on their age. To do this, we help you: we have divided household chores by age and responsibilities so that you know what your little one can do as he or she grows.

Responsibilities with two and three years

Instilling responsibilities in them is not the same as inviting them to help us with household chores. During the ages of two and three, they will have to pick up their toys alone and put the books away.

How can they help us with two and three years?

We can start teaching them how to fold the cloths, how to set the table or invite them to come with us to get the diapers and wipes.

It will be your responsibility at four and five years...

Make the bed, dress and clean yourself (although we help you choose your clothes and put them at your height so you can reach them without difficulty), help clean up the dishes or clean up your room.

Furthermore, at four and five years old they will be able to help us...

Clean up spills, water plants, prepare simple snacks, or help us clean doorknobs.

At six and seven years old they can acquire more responsibilities

These include picking up the trash, emptying the dishwasher or changing the toilet paper roll. At this age they already have more knowledge about everything and will be able to carry out tasks with a greater sense of responsibility.

At six and seven years old we can invite them to help us...

Make a salad, cut potatoes and carrots (always under our control), mop or fold socks.

Responsibilities at eight and nine years old

At this age they are already stronger and, therefore, will be able to carry out activities with a certain level of difficulty. Among them, cleaning the table, helping to load the dishwasher, cleaning the dust or helping to pick up the shopping.

Furthermore, at eight and nine years old they can help us with more things:

Among them, running the washing machine, hanging clean clothes, walking the dog or sweeping the porch.

What responsibilities do they have at ten and eleven years old?

Pick up the mail, clean the counter, sweep the garage and help us clean the bathrooms.

In addition, they can help us with other tasks:

Prepare simple meals (so we can begin to develop their taste and culinary sense), help us with easy sewing tasks or mow the lawn.

At twelve years old, your responsibilities become more difficult and increase.

At 12 years old they already have full knowledge about everything. They know what they can and cannot do. Furthermore, they know perfectly well how far they are capable of going. Therefore, the responsibilities will be a little greater: supervising their younger siblings, mopping the floor, going shopping with the help of a list or cooking a full meal if necessary.

Of course, the tasks in which they can help us are also difficult:

Change ceiling light bulbs, vacuum and wash the car, make simple repairs at home or iron clothes (being careful not to hurt them).