No, it’s not child labor! I’m not whipping them while they slave away doing MY household tasks and duties. In fact, sometimes they are so excited to collect coins, I run out of ideas of how they can help out! So here we go, let’s get into the simple tasks/chores my 3 littles have been getting more and more involved with at home.
Laundry
Delegating laundry has been amazing. Starting them from a young age to start putting their dirty laundry in the hamper or to help put their clean clothes in the right drawers, is a way to get them into good habits. My two year old knows where the “ropa sucia” (dirty laundry) goes. The big kids help her when she is being a stubborn toddler! But she does know. My 5 and 8 year old definitely can help with the bigger chores. So here goes:
The Wash
My big kids teamup to do the wash cycle now. As I write this, we are living in an AirBnb in Thailand. It comes with only a washing machine that lives outside in the back behind the house. It’s a sketchy little area, but I cleaned it up so they can go back there safely and help with the wash.
Usually my big girl, Jas, takes the hamper out. Noah follows with the laundry detergent. (Here’s a link to the one we use.) Jas controls the buttons and helps Noah by telling him how much soap to put in per the amount of laundry.
Once the wash is done, I ask them to go bring in the wet clothes to the drying rack inside. Their little arms can’t reach the clothes that gets stuck at the very bottom (it’s a top loading washer), but otherwise they two can manage this task on their own.
Dry
Since we don’t have a dryer, we hang the laundry inside (because the rain is unpredictable and more than once my clothes has gotten ruined). Lately, this is a task they have been doing more often, especially Jasmin. Noah can’t yet figure out how to hang everything in a way that won’t let things get moldy, so I have to extra supervise him or just give him a different chore. Jas is getting much better at it. We can team up or if it’s a small load she can do it herself. She has been talking me into giving her Thai baht coins for chores she completes, so as of late, she has been more than willing to do the laundry on her own! I still do it on my own sometimes when we are in a rush or they’re off doing something else.
Put away
Apparently there’s a universal language implanted at birth that makes everyone hate this part of the laundry. It’s a global phenomena! As I mentioned before, Jas had been collecting coins to save up for items she sees in the store, it has been great to see her so motivated to put away laundry.
That said, of the 3 of them, heck out of all 5 of us, Noah’s drawer is THE NEATEST child’s clothing drawer I have ever seen. Actually that’s a lie….The only other man’s clothes I have seen this neat is my brother’s closet! Totally type-A ever since we were little. THE neatest ever. But for a little 5 year old, I am impressed!
Anyyyyyway, point is the 2 big kids put their own laundry away and their little sisters, and some of dad’s too sometimes. Not mine. I’m a little more picky than they are about wanting to know where my clothes is going. I hate not being able to find something, even if it’s not as organized as Noah’s!
Declutter/Organize Tasks
The key thing for me here is to clean up messes. At times I want them to at least cleanup only their own mess, but sometimes they do have to help cleanup each other’s messes. My though is this, its true, they didn’t make the mess so why clean it up? Life doesn’t always work this way, especially for moms. Even Christ cleaned others feet. Can we not clean up someone else spilled juice? If big sis already has a big chore, can we help pickup her school stuff? Or maybe all 3 of them were involved in playing a big messy game, but bro is helping me in the kitchen, is it fair to ask Jas and Rubi to help cleanup the whole game? But more often than not I do at least require them to cleanup their own mess at the least!
Clean-up:
2 things they must clean-up: after meals/snacks and play. They are required to put their own dishes in the sink, throw away napkins and any trash, and cleanup their crumbs as best they can. Secondly, they must clean-up their toys when they are not playing with them. Easy peasy right? Well you would think so!
Everything in its place:
Let’s not just throw everything in a basket and done. Everything must be cleaned up and placed in it’s correct spot. Quite a few times we have to dump boxes and baskets and do it all over again since this little rule is quite hard to follow when they are in a rush to get the clean-up over with.
Declutter:
Throw out, give away, or sell. You must read a whole post I dedicated to our rules on this matter, read it here!
Small Tasks
it’s a good time than ever to teach our littles how helping with small, seemingly insignificant tasks can make a huge impact either immediately or in the long run. Here are a couple small daily tasks they can accomplish which will begin nurturing healthy habits for success in the long run.
Setup diffusers
Teaching them about keeping the atmosphere welcoming, fresh, and healthy in small ways can make a big difference later on in their own little lives. Right now they team-up to add water to our ultra-sonic diffusers we have in each room. One of them adds the water, the other adds the essential oil drops, another turns it on and chooses the color and white-noise settings (depending on the diffuser).
It seems like such a small task, but essential oils have the power to invigorate, help with sleep, clean the air, and deodorize! Seems irrelevant but such a huge help believe me.
Take out trash
Taking out the trash is actually a task only my big girl can do currently. My boy is too sloppy and unwilling because it’s his least favorite. Since I’d rather not deal with a bigger mess, I leave it to my big girl and only once in a while, when she really wants to earn a coin and there’s not much else for her to do.
WHAT DID I MISS?
Is there tasks your children have that’s specific to your home I haven’t mentioned? Tell us in the comments so others can get more tips and ideas too! or join our FB group Women’s Essential Wellness and be a part of our daily convos!
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