Five tips for getting toddlers interested in Family Contributions.
tip one:
Create a checklist. I honestly had no idea this was going to be such a game changer in our house. I always assumed that since Sofie can’t really read or write, she’d never take to a checklist, not least of all a list of “chores”. But after creating a physical list and attaching it to a clipboard with a pen, Sofia took to checking off items like they were going out of style. She got so much gratification out of checking them off that it was super simple to encourage her to do the next thing on the list. I designed this Routines Checklist one just for two year olds and you can find it in my Etsy shop!
For more great tips on how to create the best morning routine check out this Genius Mom Hacks article about Creating Effective Morning Routines.
tip two:
take time for training. This may sound super obvious, but I will admit I totally missed this step. I never really took the time to explain to Sofie how to do the steps of each task let alone why we do them, what outcome we’re expecting, and how it benefits our family. So no wonder the weekends always felt like me following Sofie around Playing while trying to get as many chores done as I could. This too is all about breaking what we know down into super easy step by step instructions.
Tip three:
visualize the outcome. It’s hard for toddlers to know what you mean when you say things like “go clean your room” if they haven’t already grasped the concept of clean. To you their room looks like a giant mess but to them it just looks like all of their toys are out and ready to play. So practicing in advance with visual cues can really help. This was big for us when it came to bed time and morning routines as well. Once we started using the Routine Cards, Sofie had a visual reference for what we were asking her to do and it made it much easier to move through the flow.
Tip four:
make them toddler sized.
I learned pretty early on that if Sofia couldn’t be involved in what we were doing, tantrums would abound. This was especially true in the kitchen — we would be cooking at the countertop and she would climb on draw handles, hang on the counter ledges, whatever she could do to see what was going on any be in the action. So this tip is all about making things accessible to tiny humans who will do whatever they can to feel big.
Buy a kitchen helper stool: This was a game changer for us in the kitchen. Suddenly not only was Sofie able to see what we were doing but she could participate in it. She could help take the stickers off of fruit as we put away the groceries. She could pull grapes off the stems and put them in a bowl.
Cleaning toys: Sofie was naturally drawn to the vacuum early on and would always want to help but it was so hard and awkward to try and walk around with her clinging to it. But the moment she got her own child sized cleaning set for her birthday, she was able to do all of her own cleaning tasks. From dusting shelves to sweeping up little messes and pretending to mop the kitchen, having her own set that she can easily manipulate made it much more fun for her to get involved.
child-sized Sink: Knowing what I knew about Sofie, I had a feeling the Lovevery Playkit sink was going to be a hit. But I had no idea how much she would love it! It instantly become her favorite activity and she requests it all of the time. We used to have to distract Sofie after dinner with a dance party or coloring so that we could clean up the dishes and kitchen. But since getting her own sink, she stands right next to me washing her dishes while I was the rest. She looks forward to “doing the dishes” every night after dinner. So much so that throughout the day she’ll ask me if she can wash dishes and I’m usually the one that doesn’t want to!
