“Before I knew it, it was time to set the table for lunch. Josiah and I raced to see who could get done with our jobs first. I slowed down at the end so Josiah could catch up---then I let him win! Mommy took me into her room alone and gave me a million hugs. She said she was so happy that I was learning to see how others feel—and that I make Josiah feel important. I think she’ll probably tell Daddy, and he’ll say, “Jonathan, Mommy told me a good report about you!” I love it when he says that—he always has a big smile on his face and tears in his eyes when he does.”*
--All of the “Help” and “Chores on his Own” listed in yesterday’s post (pre k/k list—ages 5 and 6)
--“Help”**:
1. Weekly family cleaning days—use this weekly cleaning time to teach more and more skills to this age group
2. Unload and put away all groceries
3. Continue helping with baking, giving more and more responsibilities, such as shaping loaves, mixing cookie dough (and learning to make cookies, brownies from a mix, etc. all by himself)
4. Learn how to operate stove and oven by himself (after having worked with you in the kitchen for previous few years)
5. Continue with meal preparation, working towards giving anything to the child as his own as is possible
6. Gardening together—more responsibilities, such as snapping beans, etc.
7. More produce cleaning and preparation—including strawberry stemming, apple peeling, peach peeling, carrot peeling, etc.
8. Work on using kitchen appliances, such as blender, mixer, electric skillet, crock pot, and griddle—wait on food processor, deep fryer, or other more dangerous appliances; do not trust children under fourteen or so to deep fry; they do not have the thinking skills and can easily forget that their French fries are in the fryer; hot grease is extremely dangerous (Okay…I admit it; I nearly burned down the kitchen ten years ago when I put four mozzarella sticks in to fry for me and one child and went into the bathroom to do laundry and forgot about it. Grease fires make really high flames!)
9. Car washing
10. Helping with big cooking for your family or for others in need, such as potato peeling; crushing nuts, cereal, crackers, etc; cubing meats and/or cheeses; shredded boneless chicken (I have found that it takes a lot of skill and attention to detail to debone and shred chicken, so I do not have my younger children work with bone-in chicken. There’s too much danger of leaving small bones on the chicken.); layering simple casseroles; stirring large mixtures; dumping ingredients from a simple list, such as the cottage cheese, egg, Parmesan cheese, etc. for lasagna; shaping things, such as meat balls, salmon patties, etc;
11. Learn to mow, depending on age and maturity of child, your equipment, etc.
12. Help scrub kitchen appliances, such as fruit bin from refrigerator, inside of microwave, etc. with direction and oversight
13. Help clean out buildings, shed, garage, etc.
14. Window cleaning
15. Packing for trips
--Chores on his Own:
1. Clear table, do dishes, and clean kitchen after a meal—start out with one of these alone, then two of them, and by the end of this age period, shoot for child being able to do all of this for the evening meal
2. Fold up loads of laundry from start to finish, including putting away
3. Prepare simple microwave or oven casseroles, such as hamburger stew (with hamburger, frozen veggies, soups, etc.); tuna casserole, chili, chicken stew (with chicken breasts cooked in crock pot then frozen veggies, soups, etc. all stirred together and baked); etc.
4. Cut up and make complete lettuce and fruit salads, including peeling and cutting fruits
5. Mop with safe (not strong) cleaners
6. Clean bath tub and/or shower (again, only if using not-too-strong cleaners, such as those available from Don Aslett’s Cleaning Center (see resource post two days ago)
7. Be responsible for keeping an area weed-free in the summer, such as around shrubs against the house
8. Be responsible for either breakfast or lunch a few times a week (This works best if you choose four to six menus that you teach the child to make well and consistently.***)
9. Clean out shed or porch
10. Vacuuming corners and furniture with hose
11. Dishes from start to finish (except for challenging pans that they left to soak for someone older)
12. Daily bathroom cleaning (See Don Aslett’s “3 Minute Bathroom Cleaning,” which we taught our children to do daily.)
13. Rake yard
14. Take garbage out
15. Learn to make a few dishes from start to finish that become the child’s “specialty”***
16. Simple, “daily” type of refrigerator cleaning/organizing
17. Clean mirrors
18. Babysitting and child care skills under your supervision (with adult still in the home)
19. Packing of book bag, activities’ bag, etc.
*For the complete story of “Jonathan’s Journal, follow this link: http://positiveparenting3-6-5.blogspot.com/2010/03/day-seventy-eight-introducing-jonathans.html
**If you have been reading PP 365 long, you probably remember that we focused on giving our children entire chores/areas rather than just having them “help” forever….this builds self-esteem, responsibility, and skills; however, in the toddler/pre k/k years, “helping” is what he will primarily do. Anything you can “give” your early elementary child (i.e. daily table setting for all meals or daily dishwashing unloading and loading two times, etc.) will help him towards more and more responsibility.
***Once our children started cooking simple foods, I taught them their “specialties”—things they always made. These included things we took to events, such as hot Mex dip, layered Mex dip, doubled eggs, seven layered salad, mashed potatoes, sloppy joes, brownies, cookie bars, cupcakes, vegetable pizza, etc. as well as things that they always made for “their” meal (when it was their turn to cook), such as pancakes, hamburgers, eggs, French toast, grilled cheese, tuna casserole, etc. This way each person had his or her specialties that we could turn to. I moved these “specialties” down as a child became adept at cooking and the older child could make something more difficult. I found it was important to write my recipes in “child-friendly” form—with a numbered list of steps beneath each one.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Monday, April 26, 2010
day 116: age appropriate chores pre k/k (ages 5-6)
“Before I knew it, it was time to set the table for lunch. Josiah and I raced to see who could get done with our jobs first. I slowed down at the end so Josiah could catch up---then I let him win! Mommy took me into her room alone and gave me a million hugs. She said she was so happy that I was learning to see how others feel—and that I make Josiah feel important. I think she’ll probably tell Daddy, and he’ll say, “Jonathan, Mommy told me a good report about you!” I love it when he says that—he always has a big smile on his face and tears in his eyes when he does.”*
-All of the “Help” and “Chores on his Own” listed in yesterday’s post (toddler and preschool list)
-“Help”**:
1. Weekly cleaning of his bedroom (see daily cleaning under own chores below)
2. Weekly cleaning of toy room (let him help you develop systems—more on this later)
3. Put refrigerated grocery items away in proper places (again, with him knowing systems well after having worked with you)
4. Learn to run washing machine and dryer—with help and oversight
5. Help wash car
6. Help clean out car—gradually make this alone chore by end of sixth year
7. Help with baking, including rolling out his own dough (that room time play dough helped!), rolling balls of dough for rolls or cookies, stirring, chopping nuts (hit with rolling pin in zip lock bag)
8. Help with meal preparation, including learning to assemble salad with prepared ingredients, layering of ingredients for casseroles, etc., making more elaborate sandwiches like submarines,
9. Help prepare packed lunches
10. Start learning to cut and clean produce (with child’s safety knife—Pampered Chef used to carry these)—start with cutting lettuce with scissors, cleaning grapes, peeling potatoes as ready, slicing bananas for salad or smoothies, cutting and filling celery, etc. Work together on fresh food preparation, and you will be surprised what your six year old can do!
11. Work in yard with you—give small tasks and have child report back to you for you to check on them (weed certain area, water certain area, pick up yard, etc.)
-To Become His Own Chores (after proper teaching and direction):
1. Unload entire dishwasher
2. Clean table after simple meals—teach to do this alone after breakfast and/or lunch
3. Fold and put away fold up loads of laundry
4. Make simple microwave meals—oatmeal packets, reheating leftovers; hot meat and cheese sandwiches
5. Other simple food preparation—peanut butter and jelly; meat and cheese plate; stemming grapes to be washed; boiled egg peeling; layered salads for meals, simple lettuce salads and fruit salads, dishes that involve mixing things together in which you have opened the cans, etc.,
6. Make beds throughout house (if sheets are already on them; not changing of the bedding)
7. Straighten a room at end of day (i.e. “jurisdiction” in easy room, such as toy room (in which he knows where everything goes) or a seldom used room that does not require much daily upkeep)
8. Dust room entirely alone (again, after having it as a “Help” job for a while)
9. Gather laundry from baskets in each person’s room and put in correct bin in laundry room (i.e. whites, darks, hang ups, etc.)
10. Mop small rooms with water only
11. Pick up yard
12. Clean bathroom or kitchen sink each day
13. Weed small areas of flower beds or around shrubs
14. Water flowers and/or garden
-Notes
a. By the end of age six, you want the child to have a consistent routine of morning routine (room, groom, dress, mess)—all chores related to his own personal care, like hygiene, straightening bedroom, making bed, putting laundry in hamper, etc.
b. You will probably want to add to that daily routine one to three chore sessions in which he does the exact same daily work each day (or at least each week), such as folding and putting away fold up load, unloading dishwasher, setting lunch table, sweeping porch, etc. Or vary it some but have the same tasks each Monday, each Tuesday, etc.:
First Morning Session Daily: unload dishes and set table
Second Session: M: fold up laundry
T: sweep porch
W: fold up laundry
Th: simple lunch
F: fold up laundry
c. Do not neglect training in future chores! It is so nice when you have a six year old that has several tasks that he can do regularly on his own following your diligent training. However, you want to always be teaching him new tasks for the next “changing of the chores.” (I changed my charts two to four times a year.)
d. Be sure to start giving this age child things that are truly essential to the operating of the family. He will feel much more needed and much more mature if he has real daily tasks that help the family operate more smoothly.
e. Because of the above items, you might want to have two chore sessions in which this aged child does regular jobs that are “his” followed by one session in which you work together—this can be the time that you work in the kitchen together or do laundry together or any other “training tasks.” Of course, these can vary day by day. I almost always had a chore session in which a child just “worked with Mom.”
*For the complete story of “Jonathan’s Journal, follow this link: http://positiveparenting3-6-5.blogspot.com/2010/03/day-seventy-eight-introducing-jonathans.html
**If you have been reading PP 365 long, you probably remember that we focused on giving our children entire chores/areas rather than just having them “help” forever….this builds self-esteem, responsibility, and skills; however, in the toddler years, “helping” is what he will primarily do. Anything you can “give” your pre-k/k child (i.e. setting the table all by himself for breakfast and/or lunch) will help him towards more and more responsibility.
-All of the “Help” and “Chores on his Own” listed in yesterday’s post (toddler and preschool list)
-“Help”**:
1. Weekly cleaning of his bedroom (see daily cleaning under own chores below)
2. Weekly cleaning of toy room (let him help you develop systems—more on this later)
3. Put refrigerated grocery items away in proper places (again, with him knowing systems well after having worked with you)
4. Learn to run washing machine and dryer—with help and oversight
5. Help wash car
6. Help clean out car—gradually make this alone chore by end of sixth year
7. Help with baking, including rolling out his own dough (that room time play dough helped!), rolling balls of dough for rolls or cookies, stirring, chopping nuts (hit with rolling pin in zip lock bag)
8. Help with meal preparation, including learning to assemble salad with prepared ingredients, layering of ingredients for casseroles, etc., making more elaborate sandwiches like submarines,
9. Help prepare packed lunches
10. Start learning to cut and clean produce (with child’s safety knife—Pampered Chef used to carry these)—start with cutting lettuce with scissors, cleaning grapes, peeling potatoes as ready, slicing bananas for salad or smoothies, cutting and filling celery, etc. Work together on fresh food preparation, and you will be surprised what your six year old can do!
11. Work in yard with you—give small tasks and have child report back to you for you to check on them (weed certain area, water certain area, pick up yard, etc.)
-To Become His Own Chores (after proper teaching and direction):
1. Unload entire dishwasher
2. Clean table after simple meals—teach to do this alone after breakfast and/or lunch
3. Fold and put away fold up loads of laundry
4. Make simple microwave meals—oatmeal packets, reheating leftovers; hot meat and cheese sandwiches
5. Other simple food preparation—peanut butter and jelly; meat and cheese plate; stemming grapes to be washed; boiled egg peeling; layered salads for meals, simple lettuce salads and fruit salads, dishes that involve mixing things together in which you have opened the cans, etc.,
6. Make beds throughout house (if sheets are already on them; not changing of the bedding)
7. Straighten a room at end of day (i.e. “jurisdiction” in easy room, such as toy room (in which he knows where everything goes) or a seldom used room that does not require much daily upkeep)
8. Dust room entirely alone (again, after having it as a “Help” job for a while)
9. Gather laundry from baskets in each person’s room and put in correct bin in laundry room (i.e. whites, darks, hang ups, etc.)
10. Mop small rooms with water only
11. Pick up yard
12. Clean bathroom or kitchen sink each day
13. Weed small areas of flower beds or around shrubs
14. Water flowers and/or garden
-Notes
a. By the end of age six, you want the child to have a consistent routine of morning routine (room, groom, dress, mess)—all chores related to his own personal care, like hygiene, straightening bedroom, making bed, putting laundry in hamper, etc.
b. You will probably want to add to that daily routine one to three chore sessions in which he does the exact same daily work each day (or at least each week), such as folding and putting away fold up load, unloading dishwasher, setting lunch table, sweeping porch, etc. Or vary it some but have the same tasks each Monday, each Tuesday, etc.:
First Morning Session Daily: unload dishes and set table
Second Session: M: fold up laundry
T: sweep porch
W: fold up laundry
Th: simple lunch
F: fold up laundry
c. Do not neglect training in future chores! It is so nice when you have a six year old that has several tasks that he can do regularly on his own following your diligent training. However, you want to always be teaching him new tasks for the next “changing of the chores.” (I changed my charts two to four times a year.)
d. Be sure to start giving this age child things that are truly essential to the operating of the family. He will feel much more needed and much more mature if he has real daily tasks that help the family operate more smoothly.
e. Because of the above items, you might want to have two chore sessions in which this aged child does regular jobs that are “his” followed by one session in which you work together—this can be the time that you work in the kitchen together or do laundry together or any other “training tasks.” Of course, these can vary day by day. I almost always had a chore session in which a child just “worked with Mom.”
*For the complete story of “Jonathan’s Journal, follow this link: http://positiveparenting3-6-5.blogspot.com/2010/03/day-seventy-eight-introducing-jonathans.html
**If you have been reading PP 365 long, you probably remember that we focused on giving our children entire chores/areas rather than just having them “help” forever….this builds self-esteem, responsibility, and skills; however, in the toddler years, “helping” is what he will primarily do. Anything you can “give” your pre-k/k child (i.e. setting the table all by himself for breakfast and/or lunch) will help him towards more and more responsibility.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
day 115: age appropriate chores for toddlers and preschoolers
“Before I knew it, it was time to set the table for lunch. Josiah and I raced to see who could get done with our jobs first. I slowed down at the end so Josiah could catch up---then I let him win! Mommy took me into her room alone and gave me a million hugs. She said she was so happy that I was learning to see how others feel—and that I make Josiah feel important. I think she’ll probably tell Daddy, and he’ll say, “Jonathan, Mommy told me a good report about you!” I love it when he says that—he always has a big smile on his face and tears in his eyes when he does.”*
TODDLER YEARS (AGE 2+)
Prior to the preschool years, you can set the stage for diligence and enjoyment in helping by allowing your toddler to do some of the following tasks:
*“Help”**
1. Dust--with sock on his hand!
2. Pick up toys after play time
3. Put laundry in hamper
3. Set the table
4. Feed the pets—depending on pet type, etc.
5. Make bed—fold blanket in his crib; put books or crib toys in basket
6. Clear table
*Become his own chores:
1. Books in book basket
2. Toys in toy basket
3. Play pen time toys in tub
4. Put napkins or silverware on table at each meal
5. Bath toys in basket after bath
6. Towel in hamper after bath
PRESCHOOL YEARS (AGES 3-4)
*”Help”**:
1. All tasks listed in Toddler Years
2. Water plants
3. Work in yard—child-sized tools are so darling!
4. Straighten his room
5. Straighten the toy room
6. Cook—pint-sized tasks: they love them!
7. Carry in groceries
8. Put some canned or boxed groceries away
9. Wash car
To become his own chores:
1. Unload dishes—we gave this job one rack at a time***
2. Set table
3. Clear table after meal—with an older “partner”
4. Put clothes in hamper each day
5. Put PJ’s in drawer, pj bag, or pillow case each morning
6. Make bed—we taught our little to lie in the bed and pull everything up over his head and roll out of the bed while lifting a corner of the covers, then flatten it out
7. Pick up all trash in a vehicle and put in small plastic bag
8. Pick up trash or sticks in yard
9. Pick up after play
10. Fold and put away dish towels, hand towels, dish cloths, and wash cloths (graduating to full towels by fourth year)
11. Load rinsed dishes into dishwasher
12. Pick up baby toys for sibling
13. Shelf low books
14. Make peanut butter sandwich, bowl of cereal, cheese and crackers, cold meat sandwich
15. Empty bathroom trash cans
16. Personal grooming: teeth and face
17. Match up socks
18. Vacuum—with much instruction and supervision
19. Sweep—again, littles’ tools are irresistible!
20. Clear table after simple meal, such as breakfast or lunch (with a partner at first, then on his own at end of year four)
**If you have been reading PP 365 long, you probably remember that we focused on giving our children entire chores/areas rather than just having them “help” forever….this builds self-esteem, responsibility, and skills; however, in the toddler years, “helping” is what he will primarily do. Anything you can “give” your toddler (i.e. put his books in the basket in the corner of his crib when he wakes up) will help him towards more and more responsibility.
***We used plastic dishes for years and years—and we put the cups, plates, etc. for daily use down in a lower cupboard (where they still are). This made it possible for our littles to learn to unload the dishwasher/dish drainer much earlier. If something went in a higher cupboard, the preschooler just placed it on the counter beneath the cupboard that it went in, and someone else placed it in the cupboard. (This was very few dishes; however, since our daily dishes and our pans were in lower cupboards.)
*For the complete story of “Jonathan’s Journal, follow this link: http://positiveparenting3-6-5.blogspot.com/2010/03/day-seventy-eight-introducing-jonathans.html
TODDLER YEARS (AGE 2+)
Prior to the preschool years, you can set the stage for diligence and enjoyment in helping by allowing your toddler to do some of the following tasks:
*“Help”**
1. Dust--with sock on his hand!
2. Pick up toys after play time
3. Put laundry in hamper
3. Set the table
4. Feed the pets—depending on pet type, etc.
5. Make bed—fold blanket in his crib; put books or crib toys in basket
6. Clear table
*Become his own chores:
1. Books in book basket
2. Toys in toy basket
3. Play pen time toys in tub
4. Put napkins or silverware on table at each meal
5. Bath toys in basket after bath
6. Towel in hamper after bath
PRESCHOOL YEARS (AGES 3-4)
*”Help”**:
1. All tasks listed in Toddler Years
2. Water plants
3. Work in yard—child-sized tools are so darling!
4. Straighten his room
5. Straighten the toy room
6. Cook—pint-sized tasks: they love them!
7. Carry in groceries
8. Put some canned or boxed groceries away
9. Wash car
To become his own chores:
1. Unload dishes—we gave this job one rack at a time***
2. Set table
3. Clear table after meal—with an older “partner”
4. Put clothes in hamper each day
5. Put PJ’s in drawer, pj bag, or pillow case each morning
6. Make bed—we taught our little to lie in the bed and pull everything up over his head and roll out of the bed while lifting a corner of the covers, then flatten it out
7. Pick up all trash in a vehicle and put in small plastic bag
8. Pick up trash or sticks in yard
9. Pick up after play
10. Fold and put away dish towels, hand towels, dish cloths, and wash cloths (graduating to full towels by fourth year)
11. Load rinsed dishes into dishwasher
12. Pick up baby toys for sibling
13. Shelf low books
14. Make peanut butter sandwich, bowl of cereal, cheese and crackers, cold meat sandwich
15. Empty bathroom trash cans
16. Personal grooming: teeth and face
17. Match up socks
18. Vacuum—with much instruction and supervision
19. Sweep—again, littles’ tools are irresistible!
20. Clear table after simple meal, such as breakfast or lunch (with a partner at first, then on his own at end of year four)
**If you have been reading PP 365 long, you probably remember that we focused on giving our children entire chores/areas rather than just having them “help” forever….this builds self-esteem, responsibility, and skills; however, in the toddler years, “helping” is what he will primarily do. Anything you can “give” your toddler (i.e. put his books in the basket in the corner of his crib when he wakes up) will help him towards more and more responsibility.
***We used plastic dishes for years and years—and we put the cups, plates, etc. for daily use down in a lower cupboard (where they still are). This made it possible for our littles to learn to unload the dishwasher/dish drainer much earlier. If something went in a higher cupboard, the preschooler just placed it on the counter beneath the cupboard that it went in, and someone else placed it in the cupboard. (This was very few dishes; however, since our daily dishes and our pans were in lower cupboards.)
*For the complete story of “Jonathan’s Journal, follow this link: http://positiveparenting3-6-5.blogspot.com/2010/03/day-seventy-eight-introducing-jonathans.html
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)