Comments on: Spring cleaning is not in my vocabulary

By: Dresden

Dresden — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 15:25:39 +0000

EEEEK!!! Happy book day!!
Loved this post – I am very much in a new era with my toddler where we talk about “Mama jobs” and jobs that he can do. Mama’s job is to pour the milk in the cup, but W’s job can be putting on the lid. Thankfully he desires nothing more than to DO THINGS.

By: RookieMom Heather

RookieMom Heather — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 16:10:38 +0000

Whitney, Like you I have a tendency to be messy. Unlike you, my husband does too. We have to battle our own natures to set good examples for the kiddos (who are themselves little hoarders).

Sunday night is break-down night for breaking down our cool train tracks and lego creations of the weekend.

@LauraC, I like that “pick up the house for the cleaners” is on your list. We observe that on Tuesday mornings we clean rather than play before school. Weeding is also a brilliant job to assign them.

By: LauraC

LauraC — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 14:30:57 +0000

In addition to your Big Kid list, my boys also:

* Empty and load dishwasher
* Put away all of their laundry (except parents fold socks together)
* pick up the house for the cleaners
* weed

I think I push them to do more because Jon travels.

By: Svetlana

Svetlana — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 16:53:39 +0000

Great post! I think that developing basic self-service skills is as necessary as teaching kids ABC. It develops kids self-dependence and responsibility, motor skills, memory, etc.
My 2,5 son loves feeling equal with grown-ups and doing the same simple things with us. For example, he can easily:
throw garbage to the bin;
wipe a spill;
sweep the floor;
clean table with a cloth;
take and put back his clothes to the shelves;
brush teeth with motivation;
wipe his face and hands with a towel;
take clean dishes from the dishwasher;
take clean clothes from the washing machine;

Now we are learning to:
put back toys at the end of the day;
put on his shoes and clothes;

By: Padmini Rangamani

Padmini Rangamani — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 05:09:52 +0000

Nice post! My 1.5 year old thinks putting yucky clothes in laundry and garbage in garbage are cool things to do. My 4 year old has to put away his clean laundry and clean up his place at the table. He is also taking ownership of getting dressed and needs fewer reminders to clean up after himself. If you put the toys and books away, you will find them. Also, he understands that I refuse to clean up his mess. In his words, “I caused the mess, I should fix it. That is not Mama’s job”. Works on most days….