Big chores (45 minutes or more) for 12-year-olds
5 jobs that take forty-five minutes or longer that a 12-year-old can do or start learning, with how often each comes up and what it is worth in points.
Big chores (45 minutes or more) at 12
| Job | Stage | Time | How often | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shop from a grocery list | With you | 45 min | Weekly | 20 |
| Cook a family dinner | With you | 60 min | Weekly | 20 |
| Do their own laundry start to finish | With you | 60 min | Weekly | 20 |
| Look after a younger sibling for a while | With you | 60 min | As needed | 20 |
| Mow the lawn | With you | 45 min | Weekly | 20 |
On their own means most children this age manage it alone; With you means they start it with a grown-up alongside. Points are on a 5-for-a-small-job scale.
Start together at 12
- Cook a family dinner (alone from about 14)
- Do their own laundry start to finish (alone from about 14)
- Mow the lawn (alone from about 14)
- Shop from a grocery list (alone from about 14)
- Look after a younger sibling for a while (alone from about 14)
Time, added up
- Doing every job on this page once
- 270 minutes
- Longest single job
- 60 minutes
- Shortest single job
- 45 minutes
⚠️ Safety notes for these jobs: Cook a family dinner: Teach knife skills, pan handles turned inward and what to do with a pan fire before they cook alone. A grown-up stays nearby for the first several meals. Mow the lawn: Children's safety guidance commonly says at least 12 for a walk-behind mower and 16 for a ride-on. Closed shoes, eye protection, nobody else in the yard, and never pull a mower backwards. Look after a younger sibling for a while: Start with short stretches while you are nearby. Make sure they know how to reach you, your address and what to do in an emergency. Local rules on leaving children in a teen's care vary.
A day of jobs at 12
- Daily jobs
- 3 or 4
- Weekly jobs
- 2
- Time
- 20 to 30 minutes a day
What these jobs teach
- following a recipe
- timing several things at once
- feeding other people
- owning a whole job
- planning ahead for clean clothes
- independence
- using a machine responsibly
- a regular commitment
In TaskFamily these become jobs on your 12-year-old's own screen, with points, repeat days and the Trust Ladder to move each job from "check every time" to spot checks.
Free for one household. Premium is $5.99 a month or $49 a year for the whole family, never per child.
Keep reading
Ages and times are typical, not rules: children develop at different speeds, and you know yours best. The chore library is TaskFamily's own. The guide text is drafted with AI from these numbers and checked automatically before it is published.