Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2017/09/15/one-year-old-helps-with-the-la.html
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That’s cool. I don’t have kids but I think little ones like being able to help. I read somewhere that the best way to keep a toddler from running around screaming at the grocery store is to assign tasks (e.g., “Please put this in the cart for me”, etc).
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As someone who is a parent (though to a teenager instead of a toddler), this is absolutely true. It might not work for all kids, but for many of them, it certainly will.
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Yes kids LOVE to help and do “grown up” things. Of course many times this actually makes things worse, but the key is to keep them busy doing things they can do.
That is one thing I disagree with my ex with - my kid doesn’t do a ton of chores at home, but then again she does have a lot activities and responsibilities elsewhere (ie music practice/homework), so I am ok with it over all. Just common stuff like, “make your own cereal” she just does for her.
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Or structure in the enviroment that lets them do the work of taking care of themselves. So, they can’t lift a big thing of milk or juice, so put a small pitcher for them in the fridge and a small glass within reach.
I do think kids need to learn to take care of themselves, early if possible. They’ll be out of your house sooner than you think and you want them to be independent early on.
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Too true. I can still remember the divide at college between the self-sufficient students and the completely clueless/helpless lot desperately trying to figure out laundry, cooking, and cleaning.
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I’ve been watching that play out with my kids. My son had 8 roommates in his freshman year (3 to a bedroom, shared common room, kitchen & bath) and of those 9 exactly 2 knew how to cook. One of them tried to live on nothing but poptarts, soda and candy for an entire semester, and ended up in the hospital.
The problem for parents, especially single parents, is that having a child help you do stuff makes the stuff take longer to do. And teaching your kids to do stuff themselves takes five times as long as just doing it, plus once you have them doing it on their own it won’t be done as well as you’d do it, until they’ve done it enough to gain some experience. And once they reach a certain age they’ll do anything to get out of working, but if you react to tears or misbehavior by reducing your requirements for basic task competence, well congratulations, you just taught the worst lesson ever.
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I’ll go you one even better;
I used to live in one of the smaller Co-Ops on the UC Berkeley campus, and every semester we had a high turnover of residents. The ratio of students who knew how to cook and clean properly upon arrival to those who didn’t was disturbingly disproportionate.
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Wow. I think we started with simple meals so learning didn’t take all night. When I was older, the “try to get out of it by being slow or doing a bad job” trick never worked on my parents. If the cleaning wasn’t thorough, I had to do it again - same with laundry. If it was cooking, I had to eat it, too. Cutting into my own free time and eating bad-tasting food was too high a price to pay for being lazy.
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I used to say my parents could make money running a bootcamp for kids.
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Your parents had the same strategy as mine! I’m a notorious hardass, by modern standards anyway, but I’m a marshmallow compared to Mom. If I didn’t help with meals, I didn’t get to eat.
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One year old? Accept the help while you can; it’s hard enough to get your teeny to help with the chores and put out the garbage.
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Yeah, this won’t last. Let’s see twelve years down the line…
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Fucking millenials. When I was one year old, i was mowing yards for money.
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Up hill, both ways, in the snow, I assume.
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