We all need to get our errands done and the difference between having a good experience and not when kids are involved is exactly how much we get them involved. Some parents shy away from this completely, and then never learn the life skill of doing everyday chores, raising kids. So, this is how this technique will help.

We all know what it’s like being home with the little ones and needing to get the laundry done. With your toddler, all too eager to prize you away to do something else. It’s a fine balancing act and when we have spent time with the kids in the morning we know we need to get certain things done. Using The Involvement Technique, where you can have your young one match up socks together is a great early educational game as well as allowing you to achieve your task of folding the laundry. It’s a win win! For those children who constantly seem to need attention, seeking it out from undesired behaviour or having tantrums in public this technique is a godsend in diverting their attention and focus to the task at hand. The supermarket shop is a classic example, getting dinner on time, or even keeping to a bedtime routine, building their little independence and giving them some smaller responsibilities.

How To Help

• Look at the task at hand and work out how your children can help. For example, crossing off a shopping list of items, separating the socks from the vests, taking out the food from the shopping bags, tidying up the bath toys as getting out of the bath.
• For older children, give them an actual task to complete, peeling vegetable, setting the table, actually putting the clothes away, holding something for you whilst you are repairing it.
• Compliment the efforts of this teamwork and how it makes you fell, this is extremely rewarding for anyone who get to listen to this. Enabling the willingness to help again.
• Be mindful to keep the chores short and sweet depending on the age of the child and for older children you might want to set a time on the calendar to do so.
• When the job is done feel free to reward your little ones on your chart, to give physical high fives, and show them the end result. All hands lead to a job well done.

What will you get your kids involved with today?

Copywritten by Jo Frost

Families make clutter, it’s natural but when we don’t stay on top of it, it can lead to us feeling very mental stressed. It is true that when our environment is not orderly we can feel this feeling of being swamped in as if the walls are coming in on us and with many members of our family living with us nowadays we want to try our best to keep it at a minimum.

Toys, books, newspapers, sneakers and Laundry and then even more toys, it’s all too easy if we let it slide to let chaos take over your home, especially with tween-agers and young children. If you also work outside the home and maintain several work shifts plus spend time driving your kids to one activity to another precious TIME becomes what we need to carve out. Some people like to do a blitzs over the weekends others like to do it as they go and I know from my experience working with families that we should do both according to what needs attention the most. Follow the practice below to help stay on top of this and make sure your kids are involved as much as they can be as it’s equally important for your children to understand that they are a apart of the big solution living all together as family as well as this action fostering responsibility.

Practice

• Family Fly-Bys Before you go to bed, straighten out the sofa cushions, fold the blankies and make good for the next day, tidy away remote control units and tidy newspapers and magazines, either placing them to one side for the recycling bin or stowing them in a stand or basket. A large basket, or giant plastic storage tub parked behind the couch so it’s not an eye sore is a great place to store the toys children may keep downstairs from their bedrooms so that the kids can throw whatever they’ve been playing with in there before they get ready for their bedtime. For older children keep a basket at the bottom of the stairs it can be filled and they can carry up with themselves when they go off to their rooms.
• Look for Storage Space even if your home doesn’t have a lot of closet space there will be space you’re wasting – under the beds is always a good storage area and you can buy under-bed bags and wheeled tubs. They’re great for storing out-of-season clothing and bed linens as well as toys and clothes till they are given to others and charity.
• Brush up on your bathroom Keeping a pack of disinfectant wipes in the bathroom cabinet for cleaning the vanity unit surface, taps and toilet – much easier than spray cleaners and cloths and more hygienic too, since you can just dispose of the wipe afterwards. When you’re collecting washcloths and towels for the laundry, use those to wipe down and polish the bath and shower, and the mirror.
• Clean as you go in the kitchen don’t leave spillages to dry onto countertops – wipe them up straightaway. If you can, stow any kitchen appliances you don’t use every day in a cupboard or in the garage, kept safe out of children’s reach as keeping the countertops clear will also create an illusion of space and tidiness. Rinse cooking pots, and put them in the dishwasher straightaway instead of letting them lie and pile up.
• Set a Time, obviously its impossible to do everything all at once but setting a time to do certain jobs is something you can cross off your list like clearing out old make-up and lotion bottles out of the bathroom cabinet, walking around collecting old magazines, wiping down the shelves in the refrigerator every 2 weeks clearing out that kitchen junk drawer,or drawers or sort out expired jarred and canned food and medication that might be buried on the shelves. When you can show your family such practices you set by example and standard for your children so that start to do the same in their bedrooms and wardrobes too.

Copywritten by Jo Frost