Here at the Suburban homestead, we believe that hard work and responsibility should start early. It's never too young to learn to use a sharp kitchen implement. No sirree bob. And so we give you this short series of photographs that we hope that child protective services will never see...Seriously, though, Seth does have little jobs around here. He loves to bring us our shoes to put on and take the bedroom slippers and throw them in the shoe pile by the door. It is also his job to throw his dirty diapers in the trash can. These are routines, and he knows and expects them.
The other day, David hit upon the genius idea of having Seth help him cut up carrot sticks. We don't buy baby carrots. I don't like the taste of them, for one, and they go bad a lot faster. That means that about once a week, we cut about 2 lb. of carrots into sticks and put them in water in the fridge. (We eat carrots every day with lunch. We're boring like that.)
Seth LOVES to help with this process. All of our knives are pretty dull, so I'm not too worried if David wants to let him help hold the carrot while he chops it. Seth has figured out how to throw the carrot ends in the trash can and throw the sticks in the plastic container. He likes to talk about how he's a "big helper" while he does it. =) This little chore has already made many a fussy time a little less fussy.
What does your toddler help you do around the house? I'm always looking for ideas...
5 comments:
That's a great idea! A couple of my friends have taught their 2 year olds how to clean the toilets... GENIOUS!
Judson LOVES to help me unload the dishwasher. He brings me the dishes and I put them away. He already knows where most things go.
Zach likes to bring Beth her toys when she's fussy or just drops them on the floor. She loves any attention he'll give her and usually stops crying until he moves on to something else. It's great when I need to wash dishes or fold laundry.
He also loves to help me sweep, though occasionally he'll empty the dustpan on the floor :-)
You are a smart mommy, you. I had never heard of such things until I was on my second child, but my oldest would have loved what you are doing with Seth!
My current 2-year-old loves to put away clean silverware and also set the table. However, I have to be willing to deal with a sloppy-looking table and occasionally mixed up spoons if she gets distracted. This past week, she learned to put some of her clean, folded laundry away in her drawers. She totally thought it was a game, running to her drawer and back with individual items.
You will have loads of little things for Seth to do when #2 is born. Little ones love to fetch diapers and bibs and blankies and burp cloths. Just show him where they are and he will be your little helper!
If I'm doing laundry when a nephew or niece is around, they fold my washcloths. They usually want to help with the towels, too, so I let them "fold" the towels. They usually do okay with the washcloths, not-so-much with the towels. And since I'm the Fun Aunt, I wait until they go home to re-fold the towels, because I'm just OCD like that. :)
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