Chores
I’ve been reading about kids doing chores and wondering what age and what types of chores are good for starting out. It appears that many people (ok, maybe not many, but at least a couple of parents) start their toddlers with simple chores, like “helping” with laundry, emptying the dishwasher, setting the table and cleaning up, dusting, and even making beds.
At our house, we don’t make beds, but maybe it would be a good thing to start now – Josiah could do his bed as there isn’t much to do and Eila could pull up her blankets, I think she might even like it. For laundry, Eila already occasionally helps me transfer loads from washer to dryer and I heard that some kids really enjoy cleaning out the lint trap. Josiah seems to love the dishwasher, at least as a climbing gym, and Eila knows where the silverware go and helps when she is in the mood. I don’t trust her to help with setting the table and clearing it, but would like her to try to take care of her place at the table. So, I guess it’s time to make a chart or at least a list of chores and remember to include Eila in these activities.
I found a fabulous website for just this sort of thing and I may sign up and keep track online. I’ll probably do rewards, but not allowance at this point. I never got an allowance growing up, but it might be good for older kids in learning to budget and handle money. We’ll see as we get to that point. For now, Eila thinks that stickers are the coolest, and nothing in the world could be ice cream as a reward. One reward I might try is letting her choose books to read or videos or something like that; I don’t want food to be the only reward – something I personally struggle with.