My husband and I both working from home for the last 7 weeks of COVID-19, with our 4 year old has left our house looking less than tidy. Some days we are on top of her Montessori activities and outside play and other days she’s living like a bachelor in the recliner surrounded by candy wrappers and dishes. Today I had to have her vacuum Fruity Pebbles out of her throne of screen time and we instated a no-naked-butts-on-furniture rule.
In an effort to hold myself and my little human accountable, I thought I would share some of the chores that toddlers and preschoolers can and should do often. From the time they are mobile, kids are capable of doing some pretty cool things, with trust and guidance. Finding out that Judy was ready do laundry at 2 was a happy accident. She was under my feet all afternoon one day and getting into things. I was cooking in the kitchen and jokingly said “Judith, go do your laundry!” She disappeared and reappeared with a small laundry basket. I followed her with my phone recording and watched her pull each item out of the dryer, “fold it” and put it into the basket. She then brought her dirty clothes in and put them in the washing machine. I just had to show her where to pour the detergent and which buttons to push.
Before that day, she could sort clothes by colors, put her plastic dishes away, put her diapers in the trash, pick up toys and attempt to sweep. As soon as she could hold a washcloth in her high chair, we had her clean up her own spills. Under close watch in her kitchen tower, she was helping me cook dinner before her 3rd birthday. At 4, her favorite thing to do in the kitchen is practice her (butter) knife skills.
Your little ones can set the table for meals, clean windows, make their beds and fold laundry. We have learned that asking Judy to go and clean something up is much less likely to work than inviting her to do it with us. If we encourage kids to cooperate with us in the early years and help them, they are more likely to be cooperative down the line when we ask them to do it on their own. I’ll often say, “I’m going to help you clean your playroom. Here is my stack of books, can you find all of the other books in the room and add them to my stack?” It works a lot better than ultimatums and asking 14 times. Some days Judy will go and clean things on her own, some days she’ll help alongside me, and others she’s not interested at all and I do it on my own. We just keep inviting her to cooperate, in an effort to keep it light and fun.
This is definitely not an exhaustive list, but just a few of my favorite chores for little ones. What chores do your kids love to do?