Collaborative post by another author. It is very important that children grow up with an understanding of how to help out around the house. Everything shouldn’t simply happen magically around them; they should understand what it takes to run a household as they go through their childhood. This doesn’t mean that you need to task them with difficult chores in their everyday routines though. You can start by encouraging them to do age appropriate tasks to help them gain a better understanding of what you do on a day to day basis. Trying to find activities for toddlers can be hard work, so why not give them simple household tasks to do? While many children are reluctant to tidy anything up they often find helping with other housework fun because they assimilate with being a grown up. If you’re wondering where to get started and what kind of tasks your child can do, consider some of the following ideas.

Grow Your Own Food Together

Showing your child how you can plant, nurture and grow your own food is a huge life lesson that they will absorb instantly. There is something incredibly fun for a child to plant seeds and watch them turn into delicious fruits, vegetables and herbs that end up on their dinner plates. Cultivar builds custom greenhouses that suit your backyard set-up so that you can have a dedicated space to grow your own tomato plants, strawberries and much more! As soon as you start working on these types of projects together, your child will want to do it more and more often. It can encourage them to try new foods too. 

Making The Bed

This is a super simple action that your child can learn to do every single day as they get older. Making the bed is a quick and easy household task that a child can do from around the age of three. Not only will this action set them up for a successful day ahead, but it will also help you a huge amount, as you won’t need to continually make their bed for them each morning.

Hanging and Folding Laundry

This is one of those tasks that your child probably watches you do all the time when you’re in and around the house. Hanging and folding laundry is a monotonous chore that can be extremely tedious to many of us. However, as soon as you have your very own little helper who knows what they’re doing, your workload becomes much lighter. Showing your little one how to take the laundry out of the washer, hang it up to dry and put it away in the right place is a life skill they will thank you for sooner rather than later.

Cooking

If you’ve got a fussy eater on your hands you need to get them involved in the daily cooking. As well as showing them where their food comes from, you can also show them how to make basic meals and help you prepare dinner for the entire family. Whether they’re washing vegetables or cracking eggs into a bowl, they will be learning a lot as you teach them.

Cleaning Up After a Meal

Throwing away uneaten food and stacking the dishwasher is the last thing you want to do when you have just spent a long time cooking in the kitchen. As soon as your children know how to do this themselves it will save you a lot of time and teach them a valuable lesson in the process. For younger children you can encourage them to start by taking their plate and cutlery off the table when they have finished eating and cleaning the table.

Tidying Up Toys

Although it can be very tempting to constantly tidy up after your child once they learn to always put away their own belongings it will make your life a lot easier and it's good for them too. Their precious toys may get lost, trodden on or broken if they leave them lying around, so this is a lesson to teach them from a very early age. Children as young as 18 months can have an awareness of how to tidy up their toys.

Gardening

From watering the plants to pulling up weeds or sweeping away the autumn leaves, there are so many ways your child can help you in the garden. Getting outside in the fresh air is so good for their wellbeing too, so make sure you try this one out sooner rather than later!

As you can see, there are a whole host of different household activities you can carry out with your child so that they can help you around the home. Not only is it teaching them stellar values, but it’s also creating brilliant habits for their future. As soon as you are able to show them that it takes regular effort to keep the home tidy and organised they will begin to respect their home and you much more.