Okay, this post is mostly for me to document what Owen is doing lately. Today I was mopping the floor and Owen came down the stairs to find me.
Owen: Nice work, Mama!
Me: (smiling) Thank you, nice boy.
Owen: Is it my turn now?
Me: (laughing) Let me finish the hard part, then it will be your turn.
Owen: Okay.
Two minutes later we had almost the exact same conversation. I finished up mopping, and handed the mop over to Owen, who dutifully drug it back and forth across the floor. I just thought it was so great that he is so eager to help, and I need to find ways to get him involved in doing chores so that he will be used to it as he gets older.
Later that morning I was folding laundry in my bedroom. Owen came in to hang out, so I handed him his pile of shirts and asked him to put it in his second dresser drawer. He figured that out, because he knows where the shirts go. He happily ran back, so I gave him his pile of shorts and asked him to put it in his third drawer. He was a little confused about that one. He knows top, middle, and bottom pretty well from helping me empty and put away cooking utencils from the dishwasher. The third out of four drawers was a little harder to describe. I had an idea! I grabbed some sticky notes and wrote out a number on each one and stuck one on each drawer. Then I told him to put his shorts in drawer number three. That was fun for him to figure out. And it was cute so I followed him with the camera. What a fun way for him to help out and learn to do chores!
Owen: Nice work, Mama!
Me: (smiling) Thank you, nice boy.
Owen: Is it my turn now?
Me: (laughing) Let me finish the hard part, then it will be your turn.
Owen: Okay.
Two minutes later we had almost the exact same conversation. I finished up mopping, and handed the mop over to Owen, who dutifully drug it back and forth across the floor. I just thought it was so great that he is so eager to help, and I need to find ways to get him involved in doing chores so that he will be used to it as he gets older.
Later that morning I was folding laundry in my bedroom. Owen came in to hang out, so I handed him his pile of shirts and asked him to put it in his second dresser drawer. He figured that out, because he knows where the shirts go. He happily ran back, so I gave him his pile of shorts and asked him to put it in his third drawer. He was a little confused about that one. He knows top, middle, and bottom pretty well from helping me empty and put away cooking utencils from the dishwasher. The third out of four drawers was a little harder to describe. I had an idea! I grabbed some sticky notes and wrote out a number on each one and stuck one on each drawer. Then I told him to put his shorts in drawer number three. That was fun for him to figure out. And it was cute so I followed him with the camera. What a fun way for him to help out and learn to do chores!
I've also used this technique to get him to pick out his own outfit for the day. It worked! A little more practice and he will be dressing himself! (someday)
Here he is showing me the numbers on his dresser.
I just wish potty training could be this fun and easy!
5 comments:
What a great helper! Preston loves to empty the dishwasher...and he actually knows where EVERYTHING goes. Jeff still has to ask for about half the stuff. (haha) It's fun to have a cleaning helper...sometimes I give Preston his own paper towel and let his wash a window if he wants to help with something he shouldn't yet.
What a good idea! I am so bad at actually expecting my kids to do anything for themselves. My sister-in-law who lives downstairs recently told me that Adam is always asking if he can help put away the clothes. So the next load of laundry I actually manage to fold, he will be putting away his own clothes. Which is apparently not that cool, considering he's 4. Guess I'm a little behind.
Just number the toilets in your house. "I gotta potty mom". "Ok, go toilet #2". :)- lol I could just see him running down the hall holding himself saying "Which one is #2????" hehe I know i'm a dork. You could always color code the toilets so that now he learns his numbers and colors. :)
What a great idea Rebecca! So many uses.
You are such a fun and creative mom!!
he is getting so big! what a cute little helper!
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