How do I?

Teach responsibility in 2 year old [almost 3 year old] form?

Well, you see, this kind of goes along with my post "How do I discipline?" Petey made this mess today. That is gobs of chili. Sticky, gooey gobs of chili. So what did we do?

Well, she cleaned it up, of course.

She actually picked up all the beans by hand and then scrubbed the floor with Boss. That way, mommy had one less mess to worry about it.

Other ways in which we teach our toddler responsibility:

• Kids can actually do a lot more cleaning than we probably think.


• Petey is in charge of picking up the books and making sure all of the toys are in the play room at the end of the day.


• Since the play room can get to be a bigger job for her, we do that one together a couple times a week.


• Petey is in charge of putting all of her's and her brother's dirty clothes in the hamper at the end of the day [or throughout the day if she wets her pants or gets too dirty].


• Petey is also in charge of putting everybody's shoes away. We have a shoes basket by our front door where all of our frequently used shoes belong and she knows how to pick them up and throw them all in there.


• Petey likes to help wash the table, do the dishes, cook meals, and pick up many other things that I ask of her throughout the day.

This is not to say that our house is always tidy or that we don't sometimes forget to ask her to do these things. She is two, not eight, so I don't hold her responsible for not remembering to do her chores....nor are they really set up in a way that she has a set list of chores. These are just the things that she can do---and so, she does!

And that's how Suze sees it.