CHORES AND REWARDS

Chores for screen time: a simple chart by age

Updated October 14, 2026 · 7 min read · By the Ejuu team

Pick two or three chores that fit your child's age, give each one a small, fixed number of minutes, and pay out only after you check the job. Add a daily cap so chores support screen time instead of turning into a way to buy unlimited hours.

Age-appropriate chores

The American Academy of Pediatrics says most preschool kids can start pitching in with simple household tasks, and its HealthyChildren.org chore lists grow with each age band. The same page gives a tip worth taping to the fridge: for a school-age child who has not had chores before, introduce one new task at a time, because a long list can overwhelm.

Use the lists below as a menu, not a quota. Your child's coordination, attention span, and past practice matter as much as the number on the birthday cake.

Ages 4 to 5

The AAP's first named age band starts at 5, so for a 4 year old, borrow the simplest items from that list: putting toys away, tossing dirty clothes in the hamper, filling the pet's food dish, and bringing in the mail. Expect to do these side by side at first. At this age the chore is as much about the routine as the result.

Ages 6 to 7

The AAP's 5 to 7 list includes making the bed, setting and clearing the table, dusting, emptying wastebaskets, sorting laundry, watering flowers, sweeping, washing plastic dishes in the sink, and packing school lunches. Pick two. Add a third once the first two happen without reminders.

Ages 8 to 9

For 8 to 10 year olds, the AAP keeps everything above and adds vacuuming, helping make dinner, making their own snacks, walking the pet, putting away their own laundry, and putting away groceries. These jobs take longer, which matters when you start pricing them in minutes.

Ages 10 to 12

A 10 year old still fits the 8 to 10 list. For 11 and 12, the AAP adds cleaning the kitchen, changing bedsheets, unloading the dishwasher, doing and folding laundry, cleaning the bathroom, washing the car, cooking a simple meal with supervision, and watching younger siblings when an adult is home.

Pricing chores in minutes

Here is the honest part: no study tells you that unloading the dishwasher is worth exactly 10 minutes of tablet time. You are setting a family exchange rate, so keep it simple, round, and stable. A good rule is to price by effort and time, and keep the numbers small enough that one chore never pays for an entire evening.

The table below is a starting point we suggest, not research. Adjust it for your child and your family's daily limit.

A few pricing habits that tend to keep the peace:

• Lock prices for a week. Kids plan around numbers. Changing them mid-week feels unfair even when it is not.
• Pay for effort, not speed. If a fast, sloppy vacuum earns the same as a careful one, you will get fast and sloppy.
• Raise expectations with age. A 6 year old setting the table and an 11 year old setting the table are not the same job. The older child can do more for the same minutes.

If you want this to run without a sticky note economy, Ejuu handles the bookkeeping. Parent-approved chores add minutes to your child's time bank, right next to the minutes they earn answering math, spelling, and grammar questions, and those minutes never expire. You approve chores from your phone, and you can see how Ejuu works on the Ejuu home page.

Parent approval and quality checks

Pay after the check, not before. That one habit prevents most chore disputes. The easiest way to check quality is to agree on what done means before the first chore is ever paid.

Write a short done-means line for each job. Bed made means the blanket is pulled up and the pillow is on top. Table cleared means plates in the sink and the table wiped. Short and visible beats long and perfect.

Then keep your standards matched to age. The AAP advises praising your child's effort in each task, not the outcome, and not expecting perfection while they learn. It also says encouragement works better than badgering or scolding. So if the job is close but not done, ask your child to finish the last part, then approve it. Avoid docking minutes for a job that is mostly right.

• Check within the hour. Rewards land best when they come soon after the behavior, a point the CDC makes about praise and rewards.
• Be specific when you approve. The CDC recommends labeled praise, telling your child exactly what they did well, over a general great job.
• Do not claw back earned minutes. The CDC also notes that once a reward is earned, it belongs to the child and should not be taken away for misbehavior. Handle misbehavior separately.

Daily caps and balance

A chore system with no ceiling will eventually meet a determined 9 year old with a free Saturday. Set two caps: the most minutes a child can earn from chores in a day, and the most they can spend in a day.

What should those numbers be? As of October 2026, the AAP's newest media guidance, published in January 2026, no longer centers on a single daily hour count. It asks families to think about the child, the content, calm, what media crowds out, and communication. That last idea, crowding out, is a useful test for your cap: is screen time pushing out sleep, play, homework, or family time? If yes, lower the cap. If not, you have room.

The AAP also recommends keeping some spaces free of digital media, like the car, dinnertime, or weekends, and making uninterrupted time for family and sleep. Chores cannot buy minutes during those times. That rule alone heads off a lot of negotiating. For more on the new guidance and why the old hour rule faded, read our guide to the AAP's screen time advice.

A printable-style chart

The AAP suggests chore charts or checklists as visual reminders, and says doing chores at the same time each day helps them stick. Here is a sample for a child around 6 to 9. Copy it onto paper, fill in your own chores, and put it where your child will see it every day.

Add two lines at the bottom: daily earning cap and daily spending cap. Writing the caps on the chart means you are pointing at the paper instead of making it up on the spot.

Fixing disputes

Every chore system hits bumps. Most of them fall into a few patterns, and each one has a simple fix.

• I did it! (It is not done.) Point to the done-means line. Ask for the missing part, then approve. Keep your voice flat and short.
• That chore should be worth more. Great, bring it to the weekly check-in. Prices only change there.
• Can I do extra chores for more time? Only up to the daily earning cap, and only chores on the chart. No surprise jobs invented at 7:45 pm.
• My sibling gets more minutes. Different ages, different jobs. Show both children their own charts and keep comparisons out of it.
• I only want to do paid chores. Baseline chores are not optional and do not earn minutes. That line keeps the family running and keeps rewards meaningful.

The AAP recommends family meetings to review progress, ask for your child's ideas, and adjust chore agreements. A ten-minute weekly check-in is plenty. Ask what worked, what felt unfair, and whether one chore should change. Kids follow rules they helped shape.

If the bigger fight is about stopping, not earning, see how to end screen time without the meltdown. And if you are deciding whether earning is right for your family at all, our guide on token systems and earning screen time walks through the tradeoffs honestly.