A parent asked me what I thought about chores.

Chores are important when done correctly. A family unit should be seen as a team. Working together to get stuff done is very important. Young toddlers are usually eager to “help” us out. Let them. As the child grows, help figure out what the child can handle as far as helping out. I believe in regular toy clean up for children starting in older infancy with our help.

It also helps young children if we break tasks up into smaller tasks as cleaning up large messes can be overwhelming to them. Also, picture charts showing children what to do next is very helpful. They can check off tasks as they do them.
Never assign extra chores as punishment to children. That isn’t fair. Allow children, if possible, to suffer the natural consequence of a chore that goes undone. If an older child wants to work around the house for money, go for it. However, keep daily chores more of a teamwork neccessity. And be a bit flexible as to what each child does based on age, skills, likes/dislikes, and how everyone is feeling on a particular day since we adults sometimes let housework slide based on how we are feeling.