Help
With Your Rule
Little Kids and Chores
Dear Holly,
What do I do with my little children when I need to clean the kitchen from breakfast? How do I motivate them to help? What can a 2 and 3 year old actually do?
Labels: 4th P Parent
posted by Holly at 8:01 PM
4 Comments:
Well, get your chidlren to help, first... Give them a cloth and have them wipe the table... Fill the sink with soap bubbles and have them wash plastic dishes... have them run and pick up things from the floor to bring to the garbage... have them load their own dishes... put the salt shaker on the counter...
Secondly, to motivate - they probably won't mind helping anyway. But, you can also tie tasks to positive consequences... attach a good thing to follow a chore - like storytime or juice or playdough or whatever...
One tradition that we have established for dishes (that my 2.5 yr can do) is to have each kid take their dish and cup to the kitchen counter and then go back and tell the person who prepared the meal thank you with a hug and a kiss. (This has made Grandma very happy when 3 of my kids did this for her the other day !) I am still working on the washing of the dishes....
I read "Three In The Bed" which is about co-sleeping. However it said if you start early with the training of a child they should be able to do everything by the age of 8.
So with my 2 & half year little girl we are starting on the training. I have no paid help or relatives to come and do any of the work.
My daughter is able to put rubbish in the different bins, recycling & rubbish bin. She can put dishes from the washing up tray into the cupboards as I hand them to her. These include crochery plates, saucepans, cutlery (although she is not able to reach all the compartments) etc. These are all below the sink height. We do not let her touch the sharp knives. We have her help with setting the table, putting out the cutlery, plates, taking the items from the fridge & cupboard to the table and back afterwards but I do have to give directions.
I include her in the cooking. To save my legs I prepare the vegies at the table. I ask her to get the vegies out of the fridge. We talk about the food & use this as a learning tool, counting, colours, vegie names etc. Often now she wants to stir the pot on the stove under my supervision when she stands on a chair.
Yesterday I went to a Catholic's Women's League Meeting. After I finished my cup of tea, she took the cup & saucer by her own iniative back to the table for washing up.
We ask her to put the plastic blocks back into the box after she has finished playing with them. Often there may be a bribe involved like you have to do this to make Daddy happy when he comes home from work. I then get him to make a fuss over it when he comes into the house. It is great for both ot them.
I tell her to help her little sister (6 monthts) by putting the used nappies in the bin.
They know so much. Most importantly we trust her with holding things. If we break a few it is a small price to pay for training the child to take their part in learning how to run a house.
If we train the first child well, she will encourage her sister to do the same. We are giving our little girl a chance to be part of the daily operations of the house.
Try reading "Legacy A Father's Handbook for Raising Godly Children" by Stephen Wood www.dads.org . He says that as soon as you can ask a child to go to another room and bring back a particular item they are ready to be trained. I asked my daughter to do this which she achieved & I have not looked back since. I am waiting for the day that she can make me a cup of tea & bring it to me in the bed.
She does see her father doing alot of work around the house. She will imitate what she sees. Since we are home most days & not attending a lot of loud activities outside of the home we are able to get her involved in daily activities.
Try including your children in your daily tasks, trust them, follow through with your real threats, reward them when necessary and have lots of fun learning together.
Pray for the grace to be strong in training them. It is like a flower that grows. You plant the seed, nuture it and it will grow but if you fertilize it through the growing period you will see the growth of your responsible, helpful Godly child.
I have 3 preschoolers who can't read. So I made picture charts (using clipart from microsoft gallery) that hang on our kitchen wall with our morning, afternoon and evening routines.
On the morning routine is say morning prayers, eat breakfast, empty dishwasher, put dirty breakfast dishes in dishwasher, wipe off table, sweep floor, feed pets, make beds, brush teeth, brush hair, get dressed, choose a chore, choose a school activity.
For afternoon it has pray, set table for lunch, wash hands, pick up toys, eat lunch, put dishes in dishwasher and run it, sweep floor, exercise, choose a chore, choose a school activity, take a nap and make bed after nap.
For evening it has set table for dinner, dinner prayers, put dinner dishes in sink, wipe off table, pick up toys, brush teeth, take bath, bedtime prayers, go to bed.
Then for "choose chores" we have a chart that has mop floor, wash windows, clean sinks, vacuum, dust, water plants, clean pet cages, brush dog, iron, fold clothes, help with laundry, wash toys, weed gardens, cook.
For choose a school activity they can work pick an educational video, flashcards, writing practice, educational game, book work, art, music, science actvity, etc.
It works like a charm because now instead of telling them over and over what to do each day, I say, "Let's look at our chart and see what we have left to do." They can look at the pictures and figure out what they have left to do.
Also, we had a community fitness quest in our town -- so we took their idea to log exercise time for prizes. We do not routinely have dessert with meals. Instead, whenever our kids log 10 miles of biking, swimming or walking they get to have treat. Some days they only get 1/8th a mile and other days they log 2 miles -- so about every 7-10 days we have dessert. (And they get a kick out of telling people that they have to walk 10 miles to get treat!)
The best part about these charts is that while it took about a month for them to get the routine down, now they can get through all the charts quickly. And with them helping with all the small things they are capable of doing -- it frees me up now to concentrate on getting done the things only mom can do.
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