Chore Ideas for Young Kids
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Motherhood comes with a fair amount of overwhelm and stress. Don’t be afraid to enlist the help of your littles!
Why should young kids do chores around the house?
Building family culture begins long before a child even starts walking or talking. The earlier you begin incorporating your children into the family team, the better! Children, especially at a very young age, want to feel like a part of the team, and to feel like their presence and their contributions have value.
Have you ever stayed over at someone else’s house and watched them slave away, and shoo you away every time you ask how you can help? Not only does that feel dismissive, but it also feels like you’re inconveniencing that person. It doesn’t feel good to feel like all you are doing is burdening the other person.
Our little ones feel that way too!
Have you ever been to someone’s house and when you offer to pitch in and help, they actually let you? Not only does it offload some of their burden, but it also feels really good to contribute! You begin to feel more connected to that person as you share in the workload and work as a team.
Our little ones feel that way too!
Don’t be afraid to enlist their help. Even at the age of two, your child has a certain amount of physical abilities and can use those abilities to contribute. Starting young when it comes to helping around the house not only offloads some of your burden, but it also builds confidence, competence, and character in your children.
Set Them Up for Success
What seems like common sense to you, is still a brand new experience for your little ones. By taking the time to set them up for success, doing chores is far more likely to evolve into a positive experience.
Teach them. When you decide on a task, take a few minutes to teach your child how you want it to be done. Show them. Do it with them. Then have them teach it back to you. Repeat until you’re both comfortable and then let them dazzle you with their new skills.
Praise them. Praise them for trying. Praise them for any element of the job they did correctly. Praise them for being big helpers. Little children crave feedback! They relish genuine positive feedback. If the job wasn’t done perfectly, give a compliment sandwich (“I’m so happy to see you tried your best! I see that there is still a big smudge over here. I bet you can get that right off with those big muscles!” compliment, guidance, compliment = compliment sandwich)
Reward them. Reward a job well done with a sticker for their chore chart, if you’ve got one. (You can find reusable charts like this on Amazon: Chore chart). Reward them with the chance to be the boss for 30 minutes (We call this “yes time” and I have to say yes to everything they ask for within reason for a full 30 minutes). Reward them with a treat. Reward them with a trip to the park. The sky is the limit!
Chore Ideas for Young Kids
Wipe:
light switches
baseboards
kitchen table
countertops
coffee table
doors
doorknobs
Scrub:
front of the dishwasher
cabinets
front of the fridge
washing machine and dryer
legs of kitchen chairs and stools
bathroom sink
bathtub
Others:
water houseplants
feed pets
put away silverware
sort laundry
match clean socks
dust bookshelves
dust windowsills
Even at a very young age, children can help out around the house. By being intentional about allowing your children to do household chores, you’re intentionally building a family culture of teamwork and helpfulness that will shine at school, at friend’s houses, and everywhere else your child will go. Well done, mama!
Thank you for being here and for learning along with me! What other chores would you add to the list? Comment below!
I’ve always loved Mary Poppins! In “A Spoonful of Sugar,” she sings,
In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun and… Snap! The job’s a game!
To add more playfulness to clean up time at your house, here are a few products I recommend:
Melissa and Doug clean up set - my parents have this at their house, and every time my kids go over, all they want to do is dust and mop and sweep! They love having kid-sized tools to play with.
Small handheld vacuum cleaner - I bought one of these when our youngest was two and he absolutely loves to use it! Whenever there’s something that needs to be vacuumed up, he is the first to volunteer. Play vacuums are fun, but nothing quite compares to the real thing. I especially like this one because there is no plug, so I don’t have to worry about him messing with the outlet. Safety first!
