Start them young
I see a lot of posts from parents saying that they alone do the majority of the cleaning and tidying up at home. Plan for the future by getting your toddler to help out around the house now. Not only will this help share the load in the future, but will also teach them independence and responsibility. Some of these might work on partners too!
1. Encourage your toddler's desire to help
2. Work as a team
My aim is to instil in my child that teamwork is an important part of being in a family or household. Furthermore, toddlers don’t see the jobs we do as chores, they just want to spend time with us and to feel like they are being useful.
At around 3 years old, I let my son lead the nightly toy tidy up. I tell him that I will help, and I ask him what he wants to tidy, and what he wants me to tidy. If he stops tidying, I stop too. In our house there’s no TV until the toys are put away, so I remind him that if we don’t tidy up, he can’t watch shows. It doesn’t always work straightaway, he may decide to play for a bit longer, but generally he will go back to tidying.
So, put some music on and work together.
3. Incorporate learning and curiosity
It’s really easy to incorporate numbers, letters, shapes and colours into the jobs you’re doing. Here are some ideas:
- Count out the pegs, or match the colours
- Matching socks or sorting clothes into piles.
- Talk about different food groups, where the food comes from, what colour it is etc.
- Teach them to spread butter on their toast or cracker
- Count how many crackers, grapes etc. there are
- Explain what a recipe is and how to measure ingredients
- Talk about why we eat and what happens when we eat.
- Ask your toddler why it’s important to clean or tidy up
- Have a race to see how many items you can each pick up and put away in 30 secs.
4. Rewarding your toddler
I’m probably being too idealistic, but I’m not a big fan of material rewards for kids helping out around the house. There will no doubt come a time when I will need to resort to these methods to get my son to help out, but I’m holding off for as long as possible!
I have found the best reward at this age is to thank them for doing a good job, helping you out and being part of a team. Tell them you’re proud of them and maybe have a small treat together or do something different like have lunch in the garden.
5. Let go of perfection
- Put the washing in the washing machine
- Match up socks and put them away
- Help prepare meals by getting things from the fridge or pantry and putting them back
- Sweep up with a dustpan and brush
- Put rubbish in the bin or the recycling
- Take their dishes to the kitchen
- Wipe up spills
- Put their toys away, shoes away etc.
Small steps
When you feel they are ready, start building on their skills. For the next year, my aim is to teach my son to sort the dirty washing and improve on folding and putting clothes away.
What does your toddler do around the house to help? I’d love to hear your tips!
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