Delegate Chores to Small Children

As the household size grows so does that chore list. It seems like every task whether it be laundry, dishes, bathroom cleaning, etc is compounded with adding another child or even children growing older thus making a much larger mess. That being said, the duties of house cleaning should not fall entirely on the shoulders of the parents. Once children are two and three they can be surprisingly capable of helping you out with cleaning the home or at the very least minimizing messes.

One of the first rules of thumb to delegating tasks is to avoid financial compensation for completion of tasks. Children need to know that if they are to enjoy the benefits of the home such as eating, sleeping, playing, and staying clean, they must contribute the associated work load that comes with it. This concept may be a bit much for a toddler to digest, though you can simplify this lesson by offering up a sticker chart for completed duties during the week. Most children will buy into this system very quickly.

So what would be an appropriate task list for a two or three year old? Well, you obviously have to keep things simply like offer your child a chance to make his or her own bed. You know they will do a sub par job with this but let it go for a while as they will build their own confidence. As they progress along, they may figure out from your subtle remarks that they can smooth out the wrinkles to earn a different colored sticker.

Toys

Another big time chore to teach the young children is to pick up toys when done playing. There is nothing worse than a floor or stairs full of scattered toys. Make the situation easy for kids to pick up by offering easy access toy bins that are open on top (no lids). Arrange for the toy bins to be situated close to the ground so kids can easily put items away. A potential incentive for these tots might be that they cannot play with a new toy until the previous one is put away.

Cleaning

Small children in this age bracket have a pretty good idea on how to clean items. They will be perfect candidates to help you wash and dry the car in the driveway. They also make terrific dusters when you give them an old rag or towel and have them go over the woodwork throughout the house. Little three year olds also make terrific sweepers. We have a small broom by out patio that allows our little daughter to sweep up when the patio gets a little dirty or overrun by excess sidewalk chalk. Children seem to enjoy copying mom or dad sweeping and will usually not hesitate to join in.

Yard Work

Landscaping work can get quite complicated with a very young child, but there are some fun tasks to be accomplished by the tot. One easy job the young boy or girl can do is rake leaves and yard debris. There are small rakes that can be acquired at just about any home improvement center that will allow kids to help parents rake. The reward system here might involve letting them jump into the pile amassed from raking the front yard. Kids also can be a great help if you have them pick up sticks prior to mowing the lawn. If that isn't enough to peak their interest, have them pull some weeds. Though supervise the weed pulling as you will not want your precious flowers getting yanked.