Here are 6 chore ideas for responsible toddlers and preschoolers

As parents, it is only natural that you’d expect your children to become responsible and start taking care of themselves and their surroundings. While greatly appreciable adult qualities, they can only learn them if they are taught so gently and with kindness.

Introducing your toddler or preschooler to fun and simple, everyday chores is a great way to make them understand the importance of self reliance and sharing work. It will teach them playtime can actually be combined with helping out!

As the new year begins, we have curated a list of household chore ideas to keep your toddler busy. Take a look here:

Clean up after playtime

Once your kids are done playing for the day, encourage them to organise their toys in an orderly manner. Don’t fret if they are not doing it correctly! Habitually cleaning up after themselves will make sure that your children learn the importance of neat and tidy surroundings.

Make their own bed

One of the easiest chores to start with, encouraging children to make their own bed is a great morning activity, seamlessly incorporated into their daily routine. Making their own bed will also make sure that they carry this habit well into adulthood and never have to worry about it again!

Dust their study tables, chairs

Encourage your toddlers to lightly dust the areas they spend most of their time in. It will instill the importance of cleanliness in them, especially amidst the pandemic. They don’t have to do a stellar job at it; make sure to tell them what a great job they have done, so that they remain motivated to help out around the house more.

Water the indoor/outdoor plants

Having a connection with nature is often highly therapeutic for children. If you have a green thumb and have plants in and outside the house, encourage your kids to take care of them, water them from time to time and learn their names. This way, they can progress to taking care of plants properly in a few years and will thank you for the gardening lessons!

Load the washing machine

On laundry days, it might be a fun experience to keep your preschooler around to make them understand how clothes get clean everyday. Encourage them to load the washing machine with small amounts of clothes and even add a song and dance routine to it.

Help out in the kitchen

Children are incredibly perceptive and often develop preferences for food early in their childhood. You can encourage your kids to help out in the kitchen with simple tasks related to meal preparation such as putting chopped vegetables into containers or washing fruits and keeping them in a basket. It’s a fun afternoon activity to learn new facts about food and nutrition!

How household chores can help kids become independent

To help our children become independent and feel that they can contribute, we must provide an environment that allows them to develop the values of responsibility and accountability. The more we do, provide, shelter and act for them, the less we give them the opportunity to grow as individuals. Many parents carrying a guilty parent syndrome owing to hectic work schedules are over-lenient with their children and provide for all their needs and wants even before they ask for anything. This enables our children to think that they are entitled to everything without having to work for it. This is where household chores come in; it becomes a constructive means to help children learn responsibility and management skills, and to work for what they want.

Various studies have found that doing chores aids the comprehension of personal responsibility and accountability, which plays an integral part in living a successful life as a mature and competent member of society. If we, as parents, do not give our children any responsibility and do all the chores for them, then we deny them the opportunity of a fundamental lesson in their life journey. Left with no responsibility, they will not grasp concepts like reciprocal obligation at a young age and find it hard to understand the ‘give and take’ required for collaboration and ensuring success. Not only will they be denied an opportunity to learn the benefit of working for their own objectives, but they will also be denied the learning that accompanies the work and the understanding of how each contribution can eventually lead to a greater outcome.