Chores

When my kids are about 18 months old I have them start helping me unload the dishwasher. They are great about taking out the plastic plates and handing them to me. As they get older they do more of the unloading. My quandry has been what chore can I give S1 that a) he's capable of doing b) won't get broken c) makes sense to him why he has to do it. We started with having him throw away his diapers. It met all three qualifications, especially since he would connect getting his diaper changed to having to go throw it away. Compared to him being in the middle of something and me saying, go do this job. So what other chore could I give him? Since he knew how to throw stuff away, if we need something put in the trash and he is in the room, we'll give it to him to do. Not much but it's at least something. But still I felt he is capable of more. So we started making him put his clothes in the hamper when he gets dressed for bed or has to change clothes. It was funny at first because he'd bee line it for the trash can so I was watching for clothes in the trash and diapers in the hamper. We had to work a little to get him to go to the bathroom (where the hamper is) to put the clothes away, but now he does it all by himself. Good job S1! What next?