Chores for 12-Year-Olds: 25 Jobs Before the Teen Years

Twelve is the last year before the teen years, and it's a good moment to change how chores work. Instead of helping with pieces of a job, a 12-year-old can own whole jobs from start to finish. Below are 25 chores for 12-year-olds sorted by area, the skills worth mastering before 13, and a sample week you can copy.

What a 12-year-old can realistically handle

Most 12-year-olds can plan a multi-step task, follow a written recipe, use cleaning products safely once shown, and judge for themselves when a job is done well enough. They also forget things constantly, because a lot is happening in their lives and their brains. Both are normal.

That mix shapes the chore list. Give them real responsibility, like an entire bathroom or a whole meal, but keep a visible list and a fixed time so the job doesn't depend on their memory. About 30 minutes a day is a fair load at this age, usually 3 to 4 daily chores plus one bigger weekly job. If your child is just turning 12, the chores for 11-year-olds are a good bridge; this list asks a little more.

25 chores for 12-year-olds

Kitchen and meals

1. Load and run the dishwasher, then empty it the next morning (10 minutes each).
2. Hand-wash pots, pans and anything that isn't dishwasher safe.
3. Cook a simple meal with an adult nearby: pasta, tacos, a stir-fry from a kit, or eggs and toast.
4. Pack their own school lunch the night before.
5. Wipe down counters, the stovetop and the table after dinner.
6. Clean out the fridge once a week: toss old leftovers, wipe the shelves.
7. Put away groceries, checking what goes in the fridge, freezer and pantry.

Laundry and bedroom

1. Wash, dry, fold and put away their own laundry, at first with you checking the settings.
2. Change their bed sheets every week or two.
3. Keep their room tidy enough to vacuum, then vacuum it.
4. Sort outgrown clothes into keep, donate and hand-down piles each season.
5. Iron or steam a shirt for school photos or a special event.

Bathroom and cleaning

1. Clean the bathroom sink and toilet (15 to 20 minutes).
2. Wipe the bathroom mirror and refill toilet paper and soap.
3. Vacuum or mop one shared room each week.
4. Dust the living room shelves, TV stand and windowsills.
5. Take out the trash and recycling, and put the bins at the curb on collection day.

Outdoors, car and pets

1. Wash the car, inside and out.
2. Rake leaves, pull weeds or water the garden.
3. Mow the lawn with a parent close by, once you've taught mower safety.
4. Take full care of a pet: feeding, fresh water, walks and cleaning litter or cages.

Family and self-management

1. Help a younger sibling with homework, a bath or getting ready for bed while a parent is home.
2. Write the grocery list for one meal they'll cook, and find the items in the store.
3. Keep track of their own schedule: practice times, school deadlines, what to pack.
4. Run a 15-minute whole-house reset before guests arrive.

You don't need all 25. Pick 3 to 4 daily chores and one weekly job, and swap a few in each season.

The skills to master before 13

Some jobs on this list matter more than others, because they're the ones a teenager should be doing alone. Use the year to hand these over fully:

The handover pattern is the same each time: you do it while they watch, you do it together, they do it while you check, then they do it alone. Skipping straight to alone is how bathrooms end up half-clean and kids end up convinced they're bad at it. The chores for 13-year-olds build directly on these five.

A sample week for a 12-year-old

That adds up to about 30 minutes most days, a little more on Saturday and Sunday. The bigger jobs move around, but the morning bed and the dishwasher stay fixed, which is what makes them automatic.

For 12-year-old boys, girls, and families in the UK

The list is the same for every 12-year-old. A boy can cook dinner and a girl can mow the lawn, and both will need those skills on their own one day.

If you're in the UK, the jobs translate directly: hoovering instead of vacuuming, doing the washing-up, putting the bins out, and hanging washing on the line. Pocket money conversations look much the same too.

Assigning chores to a 12-year-old in Famiyo

Famiyo is a free family app for iPhone and Android that combines a shared family calendar, chores with points and a rewards shop; kids join with a code, no email needed. You add each chore, pick who does it and set the points: 5 for small jobs like making the bed, 10 for emptying the dishwasher, 20 for cleaning the bathroom.

Your 12-year-old gets a notification for new tasks and checks them off on their own phone, and you hear when each one is done. At this age, letting them check off their own tasks instead of waiting for approval is a small vote of trust. See how it compares in our list of the best chore apps for kids.

If chores still turn into daily reminders, getting kids to do chores without nagging has strategies that work well with tweens.