Princess Peach has been into “helping” me around the house these days. Instead of saying “no” and shooing her away I’ve enlisted her help. Obviously at 2.5 years old I can’t get her to cook me dinner (yet) although I’m sure if I asked her to she totally would. By having Princess Peach’s help it often means that tasks take 500 times longer than they usually would but I have to think about what I’m teaching her – important life skills. Firstly, she is learning to do household tasks that one day may become her own tasks to earn allowance. Secondly, she is learning a method and routine. She is also learning to work together as a team because we do these chores together and I’m sure before we know it Little Dude will want in as well.
Here are 5 tasks that we do together!
1. Help with the laundry. Princess Peach helps me load the washing machine, transfer the clothes from the washing machine to the dryer and she loves to help me fold and sort the laundry. She loves to find matches and put the clothes in piles. It’s a fun way of learning how to match items and categorize them based on item e.g., pants, shirts, pajamas etc.
2. Load the dishwasher. These days I can’t load the dishwasher without her! I enlist her help to put the cutlery (sans knives) into the holder and she helps put her cups on the top rack.
3. Put toys away. Funny enough, this is the one task that she doesn’t enjoy doing. She never ever wants to do it by herself. I’ve found singing a variety of cleanup songs and having “races” help speed up the process.
4. Sweep the floor. Thanks to the Swiffers and brooms that we own, Princess Peach has adopted many of them as her own. She loves cleaning the floor after meals which is a big help. Even if she doesn’t do a great job she’s still learning a routine and “how” to clean.
5. Dust. The Swiffer dusters are the best invention for kids ever! Whenever Princess Peach sees the duster she always want to use it! To use her dusting enthusiasm to my advantage I get her dust one thing in the house that needs a little dust! It’s a win-win situation for both of us.
One thing I always make sure to talk to Princess Peach about is safety around the house while we clean. She knows that she is not allowed in the laundry room without an adult and each time she helps me we always have a quick conversation around that. I want her to be excited to help but I also need to make her aware of the risks.
Do you enlist the toddler in your house to help with chores? If so, which ones?
Thanks for sharing. My daughter will be 3 in the summer. She wants to help with everything. It is really sweet but sometimes frustrating because it doubles the task time. She likes to help unload the dishwasher-especially the cutlery. She helps unpack
The grocery bags and frankly I miss her helping hands with this task when I have to do it on my own. She also helps with laundry. I saw a good chore chart for each age floating around Facebook-it has some good ideas.
Great article, I really need to have my toddler assist with these!