At fourteen, your teenager is roughly four years away from living on their own, whether in a dorm, a shared apartment or their first job somewhere else. That's a useful way to look at chores at this age. The question isn't only "is the house clean?" but "could they run a household?". Laundry, basic cooking, keeping a bathroom clean and handling errands are the skills that make those first years away from home much easier.
Here's a chore list for a fourteen-year-old, what the pediatric guidance says, and a free printable chart.
What a 14 year old can handle
With practice, a fourteen-year-old can do nearly every job in the house. The American Academy of Pediatrics' guide to household chores for teens lists vacuuming shared spaces, washing and vacuuming the car, mowing, mulching and weeding, clearing snow from walkways, grocery shopping once they drive, cleaning the kitchen after meal prep, pet care and helping with younger siblings. The same guide makes the case that chores prepare teens for independent life and are part of contributing to the family (HealthyChildren.org, AAP).
The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry adds that teens can help with grocery shopping and running errands (AACAP Facts for Families No. 125).
The list: chores for a 14 year old
Their own life
- Laundry, start to finish, every week
- Sheets every other week
- Room, schedule and school gear
Kitchen
- Clean the kitchen after dinner
- Dishwasher in and out
- Cook one simple family meal a week
- Help with the grocery shopping and put it away
Cleaning
- Clean a bathroom weekly
- Vacuum shared rooms
- Trash and recycling
Outdoors and family
- Mow the lawn, yard work, clear snow
- Wash the car
- Pet care
- Help with younger siblings
- Run a short errand for the family
You'll find these chores on the printable chart at the top of this page. Download it as is or customize it first.
The "moving out" checklist
A good way to plan chores at fourteen is to work backwards from what an 18-year-old needs to manage alone, and make sure each item gets practiced:
- Clothes: wash, dry, fold, and not shrink a sweater.
- Food: plan a meal, shop for it, cook it and clean up.
- Home: clean a bathroom and a kitchen properly, take out the trash on the right day.
- Errands: pick something up, handle a small purchase, keep a receipt.
Spread across four years, that's very manageable. At fourteen, cooking one family meal a week and doing their own laundry are the two chores that pay off most.
Keep it realistic
High school brings homework, sports and a social life, so the list shouldn't compete with everything else. Five or six chores is enough:
- One daily job, like the kitchen after dinner.
- Two or three weekly jobs, like laundry, the bathroom and the lawn.
- One family contribution, like helping a younger sibling with homework or doing the grocery run with you.
Agree on the list together, keep it stable for a term, and connect it calmly to privileges they care about.
How to teach a 14 year old to cook a family meal
Cooking one family meal a week is the chore on this list that grows the most skills at once: planning, shopping, timing and cleaning up. Here's a way to build up to it.
- Let them choose the meal. Something they like and can manage, like tacos, pasta bake or a stir-fry. Ownership starts with the choice.
- Plan it together the first time. Look at the recipe, check what's already in the fridge, and write the shopping list.
- Shop for it together. At the store, let them find the items and compare prices. This is also the start of the grocery shopping the AAP's teen list includes.
- Cook side by side once. They cook, you help with timing: what goes on first, what can wait, how to get everything ready at the same time.
- Then hand it over. Stay nearby while they use the stove until you're confident, and let them run the kitchen.
- Clean-up belongs to the cook, or to whoever you agree on as a trade. Either way, the kitchen is done before the evening is over.
- Build a small repertoire. After a month with one meal, add a second. By sixteen, three or four meals they can cook without a recipe is a strong start for life away from home.
Eat what they make and say something specific about it. "The sauce was really good" does more than "thanks for dinner".
When a 14 year old pushes back
Some resistance at fourteen is normal. Having a few calm answers ready keeps it from becoming a nightly argument.
- "I have too much homework." Sometimes that's true. Plan lighter weeks ahead of big tests together, and move a job to the weekend instead of dropping it.
- "I've got practice every night." Sports seasons are predictable, so plan for them. Before the season starts, agree which jobs move to the weekend and which ones someone else covers for a few months, and switch back when the season ends.
- "Why do I do more than my little brother?" Because you're older, and he'll get your list when he's your age. Show both lists side by side. Shared jobs like the dishwasher can rotate so it stays even.
- "Can he do my bathroom and I'll do his vacuuming?" If both agree and both jobs get done, let them trade. That's how adults sharing a home work it out too.
- "Fine," followed by half a job. Check against the standard you agreed on, point out once what's missing, and let them finish. Skip the lecture.
- "I'll do it later." Later is fine if there's a deadline. "Laundry by Sunday night" gives them control over the when, and you only check once instead of asking five times.
- "Why does it matter?" Tie it to the future they care about: "In four years you'll do all of this alone. I'd rather you learn it here."
If the struggle keeps growing, the AACAP notes it can point to other conflicts worth raising with your pediatrician (AACAP Facts for Families No. 125). For more everyday strategies, see how to get kids to do chores.
Chores for 14 year olds to earn money
Fourteen-year-olds often want spending money for going out, clothes or games. Many families keep everyday chores unpaid and pay for bigger jobs like mowing, washing the car or a garage clean-out, or use points that turn into money or privileges.
For scale, Greenlight reported that kids aged 12 to 19 using its app received about $18.11 a week in allowance in 2025 (Greenlight). That's company data, not a national average. See allowance for chores for amounts and ground rules.
How Raccoon fits in
Raccoon Kids runs on your teen's own phone: chores with coin values, photo proof when a job's done, your approval from anywhere, and rewards you agree on together. The age-based presets are built from the same research as this page.
A printed chart works too. If a phone is where your teenager lives anyway, try Raccoon for free.
Other ages
See chores for 13 year olds, chores for teenagers, or the full chore chart by age.
Sources
- American Academy of Pediatrics, Household Chores for Teens, HealthyChildren.org, Shelly Vaziri Flais, MD, FAAP, updated February 2024.
- American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Chores and Children, Facts for Families No. 125, updated June 2018.
- Greenlight, Average weekly allowance by age, company data for 2025.