Responsibility for Preschoolers
You might be surprised to know that every afternoon the play rooms are almost clean to the point of perfection. No I don’t mean by me, I mean as the children play through the day they clean up their messes and then we ring the bell and everyone takes time to put everything back where it belongs
In order for that to happen you have to truly have a system and everything needs a place.
Right now I am struggling with the block center. I moved a shelf down stairs and I feel like they are only using the blocks on the bottom. Also, there’s no place for the baskets with loose parts. That’s probably going to get switched back. My point is, that because I am struggling with that shelf and things don’t have a place, it is overloaded. I think they have a problem putting things back.
How much responsibility should a preschooler have when it comes to helping around the home? I found this reference that talked about what is appropriate for this age group
- Pick up toys and books.
- Put clothes on clothes hooks.
- Set placemats on the dinner table.
- Set the table for meals.
- Help with preparing meals, under supervision.
- Help put clean clothes into piles for each family member, ready to fold.
- Help with grocery shopping and putting away groceries.
I can tell you that when I ring the bell everyone is busy helping. No one says “I didn’t do that”, no one says “I don’t want to help.” Once in a while I have to remind them that we work as a family. But overall, clean up is very easy.
Once a week I do a deep clean on each section of our playroom.
Monday was downstairs. The children enjoyed giving me the extra help. You’d be surprised at how much it fills their bucket to be able to help with what might be viewed as adult chores.
If it something that you’re really particular about, save that one for yourself but find things that children can do.
Their future self will thank you.