{"id":25239,"date":"2015-01-15T06:56:38","date_gmt":"2015-01-15T11:56:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/?p=25239"},"modified":"2021-02-12T10:56:23","modified_gmt":"2021-02-12T15:56:23","slug":"chores-three-year-old","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/chores-three-year-old\/","title":{"rendered":"Chores for My Three-Year-Old"},"content":{"rendered":"

I loved the response I got from some of you when briefly mentioning this age that Hailey is at (three years and four months). I wanted to write a post this morning about the challenges of a strong-willed preschooler, but alas, as these sneaky little ones have a tendency to do, yesterday she was as sweet as tea in the south. For example, I asked what made her happy and her response? YOU make me so happy mama. <\/em>That was followed by book reading and snuggles. While there was an instance or two of seriously,<\/em> stop sitting on your sister<\/em>, I feel to do justice to the perils of mothering a threenager, I need to be a bit more fired up than I am at the moment. So instead, let\u2019s talk about the responsibilities of my three year old.<\/p>\n

\u2026spoiler alert, there aren\u2019t too many!<\/p>\n

Oh to be three.<\/p>\n

\"DSC01039\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I can\u2019t remember the exact moment we started giving Hailey responsibilities. I imagine it started early on with having her help clean up toys. However, maybe it was just after she turned two that David and I realized she could actually do<\/em> things. Like bring us things we needed (a blanket, the remote, a beer<\/em>\u2026I kid I kid) so our lazy bums could stay parked in our chairs. SWEET.<\/p>\n

Ok, so giving children chores\/responsibilities has more behind it than a self-serving desire to have someone else do things for us. There\u2019s the need to teach responsibility and the idea of pitching in without an expected reward because that is just what families do and blah blah blah. And for every ache my heart experiences about my girls getting older and bigger (I\u2019m feeling rather mushy about it all today), I feel great pride in watching Hailey slowly take on more ownership in pitching in around the house.<\/p>\n

All that being said, there is only so much that a three-year-old can do. Here are Hailey\u2019s current responsibilities:<\/p>\n

1. Cleans up her mess\/toys.<\/strong> I\u2019ll be the first to admit our playroom stays pretty crazy. It has the advantage of a magical thing called a door that I can close and pretend I don\u2019t know about the disaster that remains behind it. Our living area though, I see that everyday and it irks me to no end to see it in shambles. We keep limited toys downstairs- a kitchen, a grocery cart, kitchen food\/accessories and a few books\/baby toys. Still, it\u2019s amazing how quickly those can be dispersed around the whole downstairs. For the most part I let it go while she plays all day, but in the evening Hailey is in charge of cleaning up her mess.<\/p>\n

\"DSC08125\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Occasionally she\u2019ll pull the the threenager classic of going limp and sulking that she caaaaannnn\u2019t clean up to which I\u2019ll respond with \u2018oh ok, if you aren\u2019t big enough to clean up than you aren\u2019t big enough to (enter something she loves here- read books\/watch Dora\/eat pears\/wear slippers). That usually gets things moving, but honestly, she usually does pretty well with cleaning up, even singing a little tune to keep her focused. Clean up clean up e\u2019rybody e\u2019rywhere, clean up clean up er\u2019body do your share! <\/em><\/p>\n

She\u2019ll give it a go, then I come to \u2018check\u2019 and point out anything she missed.<\/p>\n

2. Clears her Dishes.<\/strong> We still use kid plates and cups. I can see us continuing this into the teenage years because plastic is fantastic at, well, not breaking. That\u2019s important since Hailey is in charge of taking her dishes\/silverware\/cups to the sink when she is finished eating. For the most part, she likes this one. I can feel the pride radiate from her when she focuses hard of balancing her fork and spoon on her plate as she carries it with two hands to dump in the sink. She throws her napkins and yogurt cups in the trashcan too. Occasionally she\u2019ll try to hold it out for me to take and in those situations I get to pull out those old favorite sayings of motherhood like \u2018I am not your maid.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2026oh you don\u2019t think you\u2019ll ever say that? That\u2019s nice. I give you a year until you\u2019re spitting that saying out right after Because I said so!<\/em> and Don\u2019t make me turn this car around<\/em>.<\/p>\n

3. Puts up her Clean Laundry.<\/strong> Understandably some things I still have to do, like hang up shirts, but anything that goes is a drawer is her territory. I have fond memories of my mom piling our clean clothes on the stairs and you sure as heck better not step over it on your way up. I hope to instill the same fear, ahem<\/em>, sense of ownership in my girls. Hailey sometimes helps separate the clean clothes, then I hand her stacks to take up to her room.<\/p>\n

\"three<\/a><\/p>\n

4. Puts Koda In and Out of her Crate.<\/strong> When we come home, we have a routine to implement before we do anything else. I love that Hailey has it down pat. Doors, shoes, koda, hands. Simple enough- close your car door, take off your shoes, let Koda out and wash your hands. It\u2019s nice that she knows what to do on her own and it gives me a few minutes to get Kaitlyn out of the car and settled inside.<\/p>\n

\"three<\/a><\/p>\n

5. Puts Clothes in the Hamper<\/strong>. At bath time, she is responsible for taking off what she can on her own and throwing it in the hamper, then circling back around to do the same for Kaitlyn\u2019s clothes. Again, simple, but a small thing she knows is up to her and she takes it seriously. By that I mean, if you value your life, do not try to help out and toss the baby\u2019s clothes in the hamper. That\u2019s her<\/em> thing and trying to take that away from her will result in a meltdown of epic proportions.<\/p>\n

Bonus<\/strong>: Anything else we need done. Sometimes it\u2019s grabbing me some wipes or throwing away a dirty diaper. She often helps David pick up Koda\u2019s business from the yard using the scooper (gross, but she enjoys this). She will help empty the dishwasher, wipe up Koda prints, sop up her spilled milk and bring clothes to the laundry room and toss them in the washer. I love asking for her help because as much as I\u2019m trying to push \u2018yes ma\u2019am\u2019 as an appropriate response, she usually goes with a peppy \u2018uh, sure, yup!\u2019 that makes me giggle.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s fortunate at this age she enjoys helping out (most of the time). I hope to take full advantage of that to create habits that will stick long term as things she just does on a regular basis. When she gets a little bit older, I\u2019d love to implement a system like this<\/a> in which there are tasks she can choose to take on to earn money:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

but the basic chores (cleaning up, making bed, putting away clothes and helping out) I hope to always keep as a base line- something we all do because we are all apart of the family.<\/p>\n

What responsibilities did you have growing up?<\/strong><\/p>\n

How do you handle chores for your kids?<\/strong><\/p>\n

At what age do you think children should start pitching in?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I loved the response I got from some of you when briefly mentioning this age that Hailey is at (three years and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":25236,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2262,1618,1484],"tags":[1624],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25239"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}