I know that being a parent of a small child can be overwhelming in many ways. There's a constant balance between spending quality time with your children and still maintaining the house and other responsibilities. Tim & I have found that the best way to simplify the tug of war between our daily tasks and spending time with our daughter is to involve her in everything we do. Not only does this allow us to complete our work, but we are also teaching her at the same time.
Yes, involving children in chores takes time, but we've found that it's much less stressful than trying to get everything done while she's napping or occupying herself. As you involve your children, you'll also be amazed at what even a very young child can do. Emahry is only 16 months old and can already help with the laundry by placing dirty clothes in the hamper and placing washed clothes into the dryer. She can also rinse silverware in the sink and hold the dustpan when we sweep the floor.
Here are some photos to give you some more ideas of how you can involve your children and simplify your life.
Emahry helping Tim fix a leak under our kitchen sink.
Helping with the dishes is one of her favorite daily tasks. Emahry loves to help whenever water is involved. She especially loves when we finish with the dishes because she gets to rinse off her hands and even her feet. For those of you who may eat at our house, don't worry, her feet never come in contact with the dishes and the sink is washed out after "feet time."
While Tim & I taped the drywall seams, Emahry worked right alongside us "taping" with the drywall tape's peel off backing.
Do you have any suggestions or thought about how to get children more involved in daily life? Please leave a comment to share your ideas.
I did a whole series on my blog about having children help at home. I try to involve my kids in all my household work. It is beneficial to them and helps me out, too!
ReplyDeleteThis a link to the last in the series, but it includes links to the other 6 parts.
http://from-my-life.blogspot.com/2008/09/teaching-children-to-help-part-7.html
Tristan loves to vacuum! Or, as he says yapoom. I give him the tools and he follows me around getting the bits I've "missed"
ReplyDeleteHe also loves to dust (the feather duster is his favorite) and use the swiffer sweeper! I figure if he wants to do it. I'll let him! I usually dust with him and get the bits that he actually misses!