Hi ladies, It’s easy to find charts for things like developmental milestones as well as age-appropriate chores, but I was looking for more fun milestones for slightly older kids–the kinds of things kids look forward to being able to do once they reach a certain age.
So what did you or your kids look forward to doing that required a certain level of maturity? And at what age do you personally think that’s appropriate? Of course every kid and every family is different, but what is your experience/opinion?
Things like:
getting an allowance
-using the computer
climbing trees
getting ears pierced
-staying home by themselves for a few hours (I know some states have laws about this, but I know I considered it a privilege at ~12 to be home alone for an hour or so)
-sleeping over at a friends house
I’m thirteen. I’m allowed to…
Go on a bike ride on the road alone
Stay home alone often
Take care of pets
Water the garden without instruction
Use an iPad and laptop
Choose my own books from then library without parental inspection
Watch PG 13 movie
Be trusted to finish all my chores when Theres a list out in the morning
Choose my sports
Choose my clothes
I’m sure there’s more
cooking dinner for the family (or breakfast or lunch on a weekend - like have them “open a restaurant” with 1 choice menus, serving the plates etc.)
Decorate their own bedroom
pick flowers to plant in the garden
walk to a friends house by themselves
go to the corner store by themselves (I did this when I was 6 with my brother who was 5, and we both thought our mom was crazy! We bough a popsicle (our Mom had counted out the exact change for us when she gave us the money), split it in half and came home.)
buy a sibling a present with their own money, and buy whatever they like
Allowance - I don’t remember how old I was when I started getting allowance; I’ve been getting one for as long as I can remember. It started at like 2$ when we were like 5 - and it was for candy, toys our parents didn’t want to buy & saving. Then we got 5/week when we were like 11. Then at like 14, it went up to a /month amount.
I think we started our kids with allowances and money earned for chores at about age 7-8. There’s a great app called Bankeroo that lets them keep track of their earnings on your phone. Ears-pierced was age 6 for our daughter.
We have a corner store that we can easily walk to but I’ve been a little wary of letting the big kids go completely by themselves. I’d probably let them go now, though, as long as they’re going together (another plus for having kids close in age).
I think I’m in the minority but I don’t think any of our kids will have his own cell phone until they’re old enough to hold a part-time job and pay for it!
I am also 13 and I am allowed to do the same things as @teenberryo13 but I am also allowed to watch M movies, and my brother saw Taladega Nights when he was 6. My brother also got an ipod touch when he was ~3. I have a macbook, which I keep in my room, with the door closed, and an iPhone, iPod Touch, iPod Shuffle and DS [name_m]Light[/name_m], of which, all are kept in my room.
We recently started an allowance for my older two at five and three. However the three year old is mostly just because she wants the same as her brother. He’s saving up his money to purchase transformers. So far he’s bought two that were both around $10. He did use some money he already had plus he’s gotten a couple dollars from the tooth fairy but he spent months saving up for the latest one since his allowance is only $1 a week. It’s great because when he asks for random junk while we’re out I offer him the option of using his allowance on it or not getting it. He’s always decided to keep saving up for his robots.