Appropriate chores for a toddler

The rules we were taught growing up was that if you were old enough to play with toys, you were old enough to clean up after yourself. There were eight children in my family and if mom hadn’t taught us how to clean up after ourselves then she would have had a mess to clean up on a daily basis.

The first thing we learned how to clean up was our toys. We all had toy boxes and we were taught from a very young age that when you finished with one toy you put it away before you got another one. By doing this it eliminated the large mess that could have accumulated and made it easier and not so overwhelming for the kids to clean up after themselves.

The next set of chores we learned how to do was dishes. By the time I was 4 or 5 I was helping with dishes. Mind you this was before there were dishwashers in every house. That doesn’t mean that I had to wash all of the dishes, but we did help. The little ones had to clear the table and put away the silverware when it was washed.

There is always something that toddlers can do to help out. Not only does it make them feel could to help around the house, but it teaches them correct behavior when they get older. I don’t ever want my children to move into their own house and not know how to take care of themselves. We have taught our children to cook, clean, do laundry and balance a check book. It is important to help your children and teaching them chores is just another aspect of teaching them about life.