Toddler Chores

My toddlers have entered the “I help” stage, and while it is cute and can be great, it can also slow things down. My 3 year old is very interested in wanting to assist with anything and everything, and in all honesty, there are times he is more in the way than actually helping. And once you start allowing them to do or help with a certain task, you can forget about ever doing that task again in their presence without them trying to step in.

For example, we made it fun when my husband makes his coffee in the morning, that our son gets to push the buttons on our Keurig machine and watch it brew. Well…now if we go forward with making it without him helping, he knows the sounds so well that he will run over and throw a total fit that he didn’t get to do “his job”. Somedays we just want to get these easy tasks done and move on, but toddlers have other methods for our days.

Here are some toddler friendly, less intrusive chores that can be designated to them without completely disrupting your whole day and task list.

Putting their plate on the counter or in the sink. When they are through with their meals, they can excuse themselves by discarding their own plate, cutlery and cups.

Putting their own diaper into the garbage. We have been doing this with our kids since they could walk and open a cupboard door. It not only gives them a sense of pride, but also is one less thing we as parents have to do after already wiping bums.

Feeding pets. This one can certainly be messy at first, but with parental help in the beginning, can really make our littles feel big. I would hold off on filling water bowls for a little while longer unless you also teach them to wipe up any water spilt along the way.

Putting clothes into the hamper after wearing them. My kids love tossing their own clothes into the hamper or laundry basket after undressing. One by one, piece by piece, they see it as a game.

Assisting with bigger chores (mopping/vacuuming/putting away dishes from the dishwasher) I have been vacuuming around my children their entire lives. The hum of a vacuum would soothe my babies to sleep half the time. So now, when the vacuum comes out, they love to come over and help me move it back and forth, side to side. Truthfully, they aren’t actually doing much but moving to the motion I am putting into vacuuming, but they think they are doing it themselves and it becomes fun for them and teaches them to take turns.

Those are just some beginner chores to introduce to toddlers, but you could expand on this list by quite a bit. Baby steps. Teaching our kids responsibility and pride in their work and a tidy space at an early age carries on with them throughout their entire lives. My 3 year old is the first to get involved with clean up time at play groups because we have always shown him we tidy up after we are done playing with our toys. This doesn’t always pan out as we get excited to move on to the next activity, but when emphasized, my children know to clean up their mess. I strongly believe it’s easier to start them young, then to shock them into responsibility and tidiness later on. All in due time, of course.

Melanie xoxox