I often say to my husband that I was overworked as a child. I say this jokingly because looking back now, as a parent, I’ve realized it wasn’t anything I wouldn’t expect from my own kids. But when I was younger, living it, it felt like we were ALWAYS helping around the house. Did my parents clean my room? Make my bed? Put my laundry away? Nope. Did that start teaching me responsibility at a young age? Yep, and here I am 25+ years later realizing how important it is to do the same thing with my own kids.
I was born in Nebraska and will always be a midwesterner at heart. Living on an acreage, it was an “all hands on deck” type of household. We worked hard and played hard and I wouldn’t trade that for anything. It taught me exactly what I find myself trying to teach my own kids…responsibility, accountability, and independence. Why do I feel like it’s so important to teach these characteristics at a young age? Because I really believe it leads them to feel important, needed, and even respected. I also think that having toddlers contribute shows them that they are capable and it’s teaching them to be somewhat self-sufficient.
In our house we’ve started slow with a few chores/expectations around the house. Our second child is off the hook, he is under the one year mark and is still mastering things like crawling and sleeping through the night. Our toddler on the other hand is full of spunk and energy and giving her age-appropriate tasks around the house is something that is important to us.
Here are some simple tips for introducing tasks for your little ones:
- Start one at a time, and take the time to show them how to do it. You cannot expect them to put their clothes away or feed their pet if they’ve never been taught. If they are struggling don’t throw in the towel, do it together until they can do it correctly on their own and praise them for it.
- Choose something that is not too time consuming and needs to be done each day. Simple things like setting the table with napkins and silverware before dinner or taking their dirty clothes to the laundry room are good examples. The more they do it, the better they will get, be patient. Ideally they will start doing it without being asked and it will just become routine.
- Remember that PROGRESS is what is important, not PERFECTION. When dressing themselves their outfits may not match, they may even look a bit ridiculous, but they dressed themselves without being asked and that’s a win.
- Celebrate tiny victories along the way. When my daughter makes her own bed, it doesn’t look the greatest, BUT when I walk in her room say “You did awesome!” she gets excited and it motivates her.
While I used to despise the phrase “I do it because I love you”, it is the truth. If you are not doing this already, challenge yourself to teach your toddler something new. Maybe something as simple as refilling their own water cup or clearing dishes and other things from the table. We are still learning and working on these things, but we have come a long way. Have your toddler give a few of these a shot and I bet they’ll surprise you.
