Our kids have always been required to help clean after meals. We've come up with a complicated plan where the boy sets and clears the table in odd days, the girl does even days. Whoever is not setting the table has to empty the dishwasher and take out the trash if required.
Yes, I know the boy is getting the raw end of the deal because of the months with 31 days, it sucks to be an innocent little brother with an evil big sister.
Travelling Frog, you guys need your own house ASAP. Bring on Christmas!
For my older sister and I, it was a similar division of labour, but not based on whether it was an odd or even day. We would just alternate (which left to confusion and arguments when we "forgot" who did which chore last). But the tasks were divided into these sets:
Floor/Table:
Clear the table
Wipe down the table
Clean the floor in the dining area (minimum of sweeping, mopping if necessary)
Dishes/Counters:
Rinse the dishes and any cookware used
Load the dishwasher
Clean the worktop and stovetop, sweep if necessary
My mother did it this way so the person who had to clean the table wouldn't just wipe all the table mess onto the floor and leave it for the other person. When arguments occurred over whose turn it was to do which set of tasks, it was usually a night when rice or sweetcorn was served, especially when the baby sister started self-feeding. Neither of us wanted to be down on our hands and knees picking that stuff up from the floor, and it is really difficult to sweep it up because it pretty much sticks to the floor.
Neither of our parents was a particularly motivated cook, so we often had one- or two-pan meals. Not a lot of cookware to worry about. So the "dishes" job was usually fairly easy.
