Look, I’ll be the first to admit it – I’m no Domestic Diva. I can’t think of one household chore I enjoy doing besides maybe, ironing. And that’s a big maybe! Even so, I suck it up day in, day out. I make beds, do laundry, sweep floors, the list goes on and on and on. So, when my little people finally hit preschool age I thought, “Yes, I finally have help!” Truth is, you can get a little help, but you gotta do it right!
If you want your little ones to help you around the house you have to make sure you set them up with chores their young minds and smaller bodies can handle. It took me awhile, but here are a few chores that worked for us.
1. Put toys and books away. Don’t let your little tykes fool you. They’re probably already doing this at preschool or at Grandma’s house. Just make sure toy baskets and bookshelves are within their reach.
2. Transfer laundry. You probably won’t set any speed records, but if you’re okay with that, see how much fun your kids will have transferring laundry from the washing machine to the dryer.
3. Help match clean socks. Your preschoolers may be a long way off from sorting and folding laundry, but they can handle matching socks. Make it a game and see how many pairs they can make.
4. Sort the mail. Both my girls are huge fans of sorting the mail, which is not to be confused with opening the mail. We tried that and ended up with paper cuts and torn checks, so I keep it simple. The girls make piles of letters, junk mail and catalogs.
5. Help recycle. My girls quickly realized that all those catalogs and junk mail stack up quickly. So, they learned to start tossing it all into the recycling bin.
6. Help water the trees and garden. I love this chore for a few reasons. It gets my girls outdoors, it involves water, and they’re always making the cutest observations that lead to the sweetest conversations.
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