Think your toddler is too young to help around the house? Think again. Toddlers are the perfect age for pitching in — given their sense of independence. Of course, your toddler’s “help” may slow you down, but resist the urge to finish the job yourself. By giving your child small chores, you’ll be boosting their confidence and making them feel like they are helping around the house.
Putting away toys
If your toddler is anything like mine, they want to help clean but get distracted really fast and end up making more of a mess! Break down the job down into manageable parts. Be specific — instead of telling them to clean up their toys, say, “Please take your book and put it on the shelf.” Or try to make a game out of cleaning up – seeing who can pick up faster, make it a race. I’ve also found that making up songs as we clean up helps!
Sorting Laundry
Let them help you unload the dryer and drop the clean clothes into the laundry basket. They will also get a thrill out of tossing dirty clothes into a hamper. Buy a kid-sized hamper and put it in his bedroom or bathroom, and add the chore to their bath-time routine. Toddlers also enjoy sorting and organizing things. So put them to work by sorting the clothes by colour.
Dusting
Slip one of your parter’s old socks onto their hand or hand him a feather duster and let them at the furniture legs or any large surface that’s on their level. To show them chores can be fun, put on some music and challenge them to see if they can finish dusting their spot on the table before the end of a song. When they are finished, give them praise for helping, but wait until they are out of the room to go over there handiwork – you don’t want to discourage what they do!
Sweeping and mopping
Let them sweep alongside you as you clean up the morning’s cereal-fest, even though they won’t be able to sweep the crumbs and dirt into a pile until they are about 4. You can also hold the dustpan for them and let them sweep the dirt your way. Or get a toddler-size broom and mop, and let them clean the floors with that.
Heres the toddler broom and mop I have for my daughter to help while I’m doing housework:
Putting away groceries
A toddler’s love of sorting things can also come in handy when it comes to putting away groceries. They can organize all the boxes into one pile and the cans in another. They can also put the boxes and cans away on a low shelf, as long as you’re specific about what goes where (or don’t care). You can also point out interesting things about the groceries as he organizes them into smaller piles — mention that the apples are red or green, the cans are hard, the boxes are big. You can also get them to hand you the groceries and say them as they hand them to you, this teaches them the foods they are eating.
Feeding the family pet’s
They can learn about pet love as they help you with pet chores. Give your child a kid-sized container filled halfway with water and ask him to replenish the water dish. Tell him you’ll be in charge of putting the food in your pet’s bowl, but he can put it on the floor. Let them choose which can of food to give your pet that day. To speed the decision, give them a choice of only two flavors.
IN THE IVY 