Household Chores that Your Toddler Can Help With

Most parents of toddlers struggle with finding time to complete household chores since toddlers require almost constant supervision and demand personal attention. Although at first it may seem like the solution is to try to accomplish as many chores as possible during your child's naps, this can be difficult as your child's naps shorten. It is a widely recognized fact that toddlers love nothing more than to "help" their parents around the house. Toddlers gain a great sense of pride and accomplishment from completing even the smallest tasks. Here are some great ways to let your child "help" with certain chores.

Laundry - If you have young children you are probably doing laundry several times a week. This is a great one to let your toddler help you with because there is nothing breakable involved! My daughter was always trying to open and close the dryer door and put clothes in or take them out. I found that this was a great way for her to get involved with the laundry and make it an enjoyable activity instead of a frustrating one. I let her hand me clothes from the basket for me to put into the washer and then I pass clothes from the washer to her for her to put into the dryer. She also takes the clothes out of the dryer and puts them into a basket. She now loves laundry time and looks so proud of herself when she completes the task.

One word of warning, I highly recommend putting the clothes from the dryer into a basket which you then put out of reach of your toddler until you are ready to fold them. Toddlers are not likely to understand why it was OK to unload the basket when the clothes were dirty, but it's not OK to empty it now that the clothes are clean. Also, it is usually easier to save folding the clothes for when your child is napping because they are likely to unfold the clothes as quickly as you fold them!