Week 27: Get Your Kids Involved

These posts couldn't have come at a better time. J is determine to help us do everything now and while that is great, it can also be challenging...



...sometimes it is just better if the toddler isn't the one wielding the broom...

Week twenty-seven questions:
1. Do you try to get your kids involved?
Definitely! J loves helping - apparently a common thing among the non-quite three year old crowd. The other day Alex was doing something (sweeping or vacuuming I think) and J started asking questions about what he was doing and why (and why she couldn't help) and got really excited when I told her it was Daddy's "chore" that day.

We talked about chores and why we have them and why they are important and she decided she needed some. She has a sticker chart for some behaviour things (staying in bed at bed time) and to remind her of some things (tooth brushing, hand washing etc) and she wants to add chores to it too. I think I'm going to make a separate chart so that one doesn't get overwhelmed.

Then we talked about what chores she could do and she decided that picking up her toys and clothes before bed time and making her bed were good chores (I couldn't agree more). Her bed it quite neatly made for a toddler and her room is so much tidier.

We also talked about how there were chores to do every day and chores to do other times - things like the vacuuming and the bathrooms and the laundry. She chose helping load the washer with dirty clothes as one of her chores and helping "fold" the laundry.

I didn't want to overwhelm her so we stopped at four chores, but if I need her help doing something (she helped wipe the finger prints off the mirrored closet doors before the party), I'll just ask her to help with a chore. If I just ask her wipe the finger prints off, she's not so interested, but if I say "I have a chore for you" she's all over it.

I know this won't last. I know.

2. If you struggle with it, what do you find is your biggest stumbling block?
I don't struggle with getting her to help, the problem for us is when it's not necessarily appropriate for her to help (a tight time line, something delicate etc). Usually we can steer her in another direction by offering a different chore, but she's adamant about sweeping. This weekend I'm hoping to pick up a small sized broom for her and she can sweep whenever she wants. (The regular broom is too much of a weapon...)

3. Which step of the PROCESS do you find to be the hardest?
In general just making it through all the steps is the challenge for me. I get stopped in a different spot every time and I'm certain it's because I have toddler who needs help with some thing or needs to eat or wakes up early from her nap. I'm getting better at the planning - and breaking my plan into small chunks of 5-15 minutes so that if some toddler related interruption happens, I'm not faced with a huge mess (chaos before order!)

To see other answers to these questions, check out Laura's post at I'm an Organizing Junkie.