Comments on: Chores and Preschoolers – a question

By: Plioz

Plioz — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 14:08:45 +0000

Well, I could ask my daughter to help to clean her room from those toys.
Plioz´s latest post: Adorable Kina Lamb Hooded Vest For Your Children To Stay Warm

By: Chore Chart for Preschoolers

Chore Chart for Preschoolers — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:33:00 +0000

[...] RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!We recently started a regular chore routine with our three-year-old. Thanks to your input, we came up with a reasonable list of things, and she’s slowly starting to accomplish them on [...]

By: allison smith

allison smith — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 16:11:06 +0000

I just found you site and think I’m going to love it. It sounds like you do a 10% tithing thing too so you’d probably love the book that I just finished … The Parenting Breakthrough. It has inspired me to be a better a mom. I started looking for a chore chart which brought me to your website. Thanks!

My kids are big helpers too and yes the earlier the better. I just need to organize how I have them working and do my best to keep it fun. I love your nickel idea.

By: Erika

Erika — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 04:56:26 +0000

I have a 4 yr old little girl and a 3 yr old little boy. They clean the whole house by picking up things and putting them where they go. They help with unloading the dishwasher. Also we have a 7 month old little girl in the house so they help with getting diapers and wipes for me when I need them and they throw them away when I change her. They keep her busy during the day by playing with her and my little girl learned how to make a bottle and change her diaper. They keep their rooms clean and the living room. That is their DAILY duty!! & they know it. lol

By: lori

lori — Fri, 23 May 2008 14:49:57 +0000

My kids are older now so they have moved on to more involved jobs, but when they were pre-schoolers the jobs they could do successfully were:
- dusting things that are their height, such as the coffee table, chair legs, banister, baseboards
- sweeping the staircase using a little hand broom
- matching socks
- sorting their laundry into the correct hampers
My daughter loved washing dishes, so I gave her the opportunity to do that sometimes even though she didn’t really get things clean. She also loved (and still does) scrubbing toilets! So I would give her a toilet brush and let her go at it, with supervision and a good hand-washing afterward, of course.

By: Melanie

Melanie — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 04:19:29 +0000

Josh puts food in the dog’s bowl, sorts laundry with my direction (pile 1, pile 2, etc.), helps put laundry in the dryer, picks up toys, helps unload parts of the dishwasher, takes things to the trash can, takes things to different rooms for me (put this in dad’s closet, put this in the bathroom, etc.) and sweeps, though his sweeping isn’t very effective. He’s a helpful little guy. I pay him with hugs and encouragement…and sometimes drop a few pennies in his shoes at night. He puts the money in a bank that he made at Bible study and talks about giving the money to God. Too cute.

By: simple mom

simple mom — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 04:51:09 +0000

Such good suggestions by everybody. Thanks so much!

@Kathy – Yes, I totally agree that it takes soooo much longer when training your little ones to do chores. I have to keep that in mind, because I’m always so tempted just to hurry up and do it myself. But that’s not the point.

@Amy – Love the to-do list idea! My daughter loves doing everything I do, and of course, I love to-do lists. Might as well get her started on that early, eh?

Thanks again, everyone. I think you may have inspired me to write a post on getting littles to do chores. I’m sure I’ll reference your ideas, so stay tuned!

By: Teri

Teri — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 03:11:38 +0000

I’m a preschool teacher (not a mom yet) so here are my ideas:
folding towels (great for eye-hand coordination)
matching socks from the laundry
sorting laundry (making piles based on color)
setting the table (putting a napkin at each spot, making sure each spot has a fork & spoon)

By: Tonya @ Mama's Life

Tonya @ Mama's Life — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:03:40 +0000

I have an almost 3 year old. He loves to help by putting the spoons away from the dishwasher. Also setting the table, I usually give him one thing at a time so it lasts longer. We have a baby in the house so he helps with getting diapers and throwing them away. Making sure he gets his clothes in the hamper is another good one. Then again he does have two older siblings that do things around the house and he doesn’t want to be left out

By: Christine

Christine — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 14:12:12 +0000

All great advice. With my first child, I waited too long to involve her. I’ve since learned that they are capable, and *mostly* willing to be a part of the family team very early!

My kids all have chores that they do each weekday. Then, there are just some basic eat-in-kitchen table pick-ups that happen every day of the week. There are charts for both.

So, my preschooler is in charge of picking up her room when it is “chore time.” I keep things simple – lots of tubs and boxes to make it easy to clean up after playing.

She brings me her laundry basket when it is full and helps me load the washer, and move clothes over to the dryer. I fold and she puts away (totally – uses a stool to hang up). In the beginning, I would put the clothes on hangers for her. Once she hit age four, she could even do that herself. All of my kids do their own laundry start-to-finish — when the basket is full, it’s their laundry day.

She’s on the kitchen clean-up chart. That involves either cleaning off the table top, cleaning off the chairs, or cleaning the floor. We have a Swivel Sweeper (which I love and HIGHLY recommend!!). All of my kids can use it with ease. she uses a stool in the kitchen to get to the sink, wet a sponge and rinse it when she’s done.

About twice a week, I will ask her to help out with an extra chore of some kind, to help her be more involved, to help her learn, and also to help me see what she is capable of.