Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

21 Comments

  1. My 2 year old does all of these as well! I truly think he finds value in helping out, which I just love. My only question is – do you preface it with something like “ok it’s time for your chores!” or do you just simply ask him for help? I often wonder if I should be associating the word “chore” with these tasks? Or if it even matters?

    1. I don’t put a lot of thought into whether I use the specific word or not! Generally, I just say something along the lines of “Ok! It’s time to help with ____”

  2. My 2 year old does all of these as well! She also loves to dust her craft table and chairs and “vacuum the floor” ( after I do it). It’s funny because my niece is 6 weeks younger then my daughter and still has everyone pick up after her as well as not lift a finger and you can see the difference in personality as well. I love the proud look my daughter has once she’s helped complete a task and now she even picks up after my husband lol

  3. Love your ideas here and my toddler love to help! Shared this post on my recent blog about toddler chores!

  4. My 18 month old loves to help sort recycling, picks up his toys (sometimes), helps me with laundry, brings in groceries, and loves to “sweep”. He really wants to help dad now the lawn, but I’m so not ready for that. Haha maybe when he’s closer to 10!

    1. Hahaha won’t it be great when he can mow the lawn, though?!

  5. I loved reading this. My 4 and 2 year old kiddos do all of these things. It is actually really helpful. My mom friends always talk about how they hate cleaning up the toys everyday. I don’t have that problem because my kids do it! They know if they mess it up, they have to clean it up. Thanks for the great read

  6. Love this! I’m with you, I think it’s never too early to start! Our 16 month old closes the dishwasher and wipes his tray clean. At this stage it isn’t super helpful, but he looks SO proud of himself every time! It’s the sweetest. Thank you for additional tips as he gets older!

    1. Love that, Lexie – isn’t it so sweet at this age when they’re so excited to help?!

  7. My 2 year old does most of these things too. I love it. Both kids also help unload the dishwasher. The 1 year old hands me plates and takes out the silverware to hand to the 2 year old to put away (she stands on a chair).

    1. That’s great! Jackson hasn’t quite got the hang of the dishwasher yet…he always tries to put things back in as I take them out. 🙂

  8. I love your post! How awesome that your two year old does so many things on his own! I worked at a preschool 3-5yr and saw how truly capable kids are! I currently have a 14 month old and we’re expecting number two. I’m hoping that I can gradually get him to start being a little more independent in picking up toys and putting away clean/dirty clothes. Do you have any suggestions on how to encourage picking up at such a young age? Or maybe by around 18 months?

    1. Thanks, Lauren! For us, it was really just a matter on capitalizing on that early toddler desire to be involved in EVERYTHING. I found that Jackson was dying to be a part of everything I did, and if I found little ways that he could be involved, he was a lot more likely to show interest in the future. I made sure to make a huge deal about it when he put his clothes or toys away, and the praise was really all it took for him. Once he got the hang of it, we also established a very hard and fast rule that if he wants to get new toys out he has to put the old ones up first. At 2 1/2 he still sometimes needs help putting them away if it’s a lot of toys, but he’s generally very helpful!

      Also, I’ll add that Jack started throwing away his own diapers, putting his clothes in the dirty clothes hamper, and picking up some toys in his room around 13 months, as soon as he started walking. So it’s definitely not too early!

  9. My two year old loves to wash dishes! He pulls up the chair and rinses off the soap. He can to a great job with utensils.

    He also likes to help wipe down surfaces. So while I clean the counters, he has a spray bottle with water and he washes whatever he wants (the walls, lower cabinets, or sometimes he climbs on a chair and does the table).

    Cleaning the toilet is a favorite, too. We take turns with the brush scrubbing. My toilet has never been cleaner because he asks almost every day to “wash potty.”

    Now that his baby sister is here, he also likes to help throw away diapers, get her clothes to wear, find a pacifier, etc.

    Two year olds love to help! It’s great to see other kiddos who are helping out so much.

    1. That’s so cute! I’ve never been brave enough to let Jack help with the toilet, but he loves his spray bottle filled with water – he’ll “clean” everything!

  10. lauraleemoss says:

    My kids do chores as well. They are in charge of clearing their spots after meals. They also help with laundry. Another chore kids are great for is cleaning baseboards and doors. They are the perfect height and it saves my back!

  11. Did you do anything specific to get him to put things away when he’s done playing? I have tried to get my 23 month old to clean up (we use separate bins for specific toys as well) but he doesn’t do it. He does go back and forth between toys a lot (hello short attention span!) so I usually leave things out when he’s awake and clean during nap and bedtime. But I would really like to get him cleaning up after himself! He helps feed our dog as well…he can’t quite do it on his own due to the location of our dog’s food, but he loves helping!

    1. In our house, the rule is that he can only have one basket or set of toys out at a time. So, if he’s playing with the trains, he has to put those back up before we’ll get out Legos. And if he’s playing with balls, they have to go up before he can go color. Sometimes it requires some patience on your end while you wait out some crying while they learn the expectations, but he’ll learn! As a matter of fact, as I type this Jackson is requesting to watch Frozen and I’m waiting/reminding him that he has to put his toys up before we can start the movie!