The best thing a parent can do is to start early on household chores for teenagers. Doing so will teach your children about self-reliance, responsibility, and respect.

The problem is, you might have no chore ideas for teens. It’s hard to come up with them – and, sometimes, even harder to get a teenage kid to do them!

Fortunately, we have the perfect teenage chore list for you to try. These tasks aren’t hard to do and, in due time, your children will add them to their daily routine with no hassle.

Chores That Teens Can Do

Take out the trash

Taking out the trash is a movie cliché at this point – but there’s a reason for that. Making your teenage children do this will make them understand how important it is to pick up after themselves.

Not only that, but this chore will teach them that there are things in life that must be done on time. If they fail to take out the trash before the pick-up truck comes through, they failed their task.

So, they will have to do a chore – and pay attention to the daily schedule. It’s the perfect character-building task for beginners!

Sweep and vacuum

Like taking out the trash, sweeping and vacuuming are some of the most important chores your teenage child can do.

This chore is all about taking care of the house. If your teenage kid invites friends over or leaves a mess after eating, it’s only right that they clean up.

The best part is, they don’t have to grab a broom because it's not the 1800s anymore. They can use a Dreame vacuum, like Dreame T10 to make the chore more fun and interesting – but they must make sure everything is nice and clean in the end.

Do the laundry

This final option is by far the most advanced and complicated of them all. It might not seem like much to an adult – but a teenage kid has little to no idea about doing the laundry.

While it is recommended that you tell your children to do the laundry eventually, you need to understand that it will take some time for them to understand how to properly do this chore.

So, if you’re interested in trying this option, keep in mind you’ll have to teach your children how to do that.

Take care of the pets

A pet could be your teenage child’s best friend – but it’s also a huge responsibility.

Taking care of a pet teaches important lessons. It also teaches how important it is to be responsible when someone else depends on you.

If, for example, you have a dog in the house, your son or daughter should walk the dog, feed the dog, groom the dog, and play with the dog. These are all essential parts in taking care of a pet – and an important household chore for your teenage kid to do.

The great part about this is that doing something like this doesn’t feel like a chore – because hanging out with the pet is always fun!

How Can You Motivate Teenagers to Do Their Chores?

Set consequences if they do not do their chores

These days, teenagers have too many things going on for them. Social media alone takes hours away from their daily routine.

While that’s not a good thing, you can use it to your advantage. For example, if your children fail to do their part in the teenager chore list, you can restrict their internet access, reduce their video game time, or simply add more chores in the future for them to do.

The idea here is not to threaten your children with punishment – but to make them understand that, in real life, not doing what you’re supposed to do has consequences.

Do chores along with them

Even though you’re trying to delegate household tasks and teach your kids about responsibility, sometimes it’s better to do a team effort to show that you care.

This article is about chores for teens, but that’s not enough reason for adults not to give a helping hand!

When you do chores side by side with your children, you’re teaching them the right way to do things – and why they should do it.

And, sure, this isn’t the most entertaining thing an adult can do with his or her time, but it’ll teach the young ones in the family a valuable lesson.

Reward them for doing chores

Teenagers should face consequences for their actions, both good and bad.

Sure, you should take away your teenage child’s cellphone if they don’t take out the trash – but you should also reward him if he does his household chores.

You already know what to do if your child fails to do his part. You should also promise to do something good in return if they do all the chores. A weekly allowance is a great reward for a job well done.

If an allowance isn’t possible or necessary, you could come up with something else, like buying a new video game or cellphone in a couple of months, if every chore is done before that time.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, implementing the right chores list for teenagers could be the difference between raising healthy, educated adults and people who don’t know how to pick up after themselves.

Taking out the trash or vacuuming might not seem like much, but they are character-building tasks that will teach your children valuable lessons.

And, while your kids learn, you’re learning as well! Trying to make your teenage children do chores isn’t easy – but it’s worth the effort.

If you’re coming up short and your teenage kids aren’t listening, try to implement the reward system we talked about. That’ll definitely help!