playingwithpots-small

Toddlers love to mimic their parents.  They love to help out around the house.  They love to follow mom or dad around and copy what they are doing.  This natural behavior can come in handy when it comes to teaching your children life skills and helping them become little helpers around the house.  By encouraging them in those pursuits of wanting to help you are encouraging them to be confident, can-do children in all avenues of their lives.

It may seem like there isn’t much your little 2 or 3 year old can around the house to help out, but really there are many things they can do.  They will enjoy the responsibility they will feel over their little tasks.  Giving them tasks to perform allows them to feel independent and we all know how much toddlers love to feel independent. Here are a few tasks your toddler can help you with:

  • Picking up their toys.  Before bed and other times throughout the day when the toy mess gets to be too much have your child help you pick up their toys.  You can even give them one specific task if that helps, such as pick up all the blocks, or all the books, or all the stuffed animals, etc.
  • Picking up their clothes.  Before bed at night after their jammies are on or in the morning after they have gotten dressed for the day get your child to put their dirty clothes in the hamper.
  • If your toddler is in a toddler bed get them to help make the bed in the morning.  Have them straighten their pillow and blanket or put the stuffed animals back on the bed.
  • Unloading the dishwasher (this is my daughter’s favorite chore!).  As you are unloading the dishwasher get your child to help out by putting away the tuperware, or the utensils, or other safe for toddler items.
  • Dusting.  As you are doing the dusting around the house give your child a cloth and get him or her to follow you around and help out.
  • Helping put laundry away.  Get them to put the clothes away in drawers they can reach (with supervision of course).
  • General tidying up.  As you are going about your day tidying up around the house look for little task you can assign to your child.

My daughter, like most toddlers, loves to help out.  We give her little tasks to help out with.  Whatever I am doing I find something she can do to help me.  She loves that.  Toddlers want to feel responsible for things and have a little independence and having little tasks or chores they are responsible for gives them a little of that.

The best way to create a little helper is teach them, let them mimic you and give them little chores.  It may create more work for you sometimes but it is worth it for the learning opportunity and the fun they will have.

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