Helping Around the House Is A Great Way to Support Your Child’s Healthy Development

Parenthood comes with a lot of chores! Whether it is laundry, or cooking, or keeping things tidy, there is always a to-do list. Finding ways to include your child in household chores is a great way to support their social-emotional wellbeing, sense of belonging in the family, development of responsibility, and emerging skills like color recognition, counting, and eye-hand coordination. And unlike older children and teens, young children are often eager to help and don’t require much encouragement to jump right in! 

Here are some ways that young children can help around the house and make meaningful contributions in creating a comfortable home for the whole family:

• Meal preparation and cleanup. It is important for children to see how food is prepared and served, as well as how to clean up afterwards. Helping prepare meals, such as stirring ingredients or tearing lettuce, are great opportunities to enlist your children’s participation. Other ways are having them help you gather and measure ingredients, set the table for family mealtime, and help clean dishes or load the dishwasher afterwards. There are lots of ways that children can help around mealtimes.

• Tidying up. Make straightening up a part of your child’s bedtime routine! Set a timer for 10 minutes, then put away toys, clothing, clutter, etc. Add some music to clean-up time, and the time will fly. You might even choose a “clean-up song,” that announces for your child that it’s time for evening tidying.

• Helping with laundry. Young children can help with laundry in lots of ways. They are great at matching socks, folding washcloths and dishtowels, sorting clothing by color, type, or family member, and putting clean clothing away. Making laundry a shared activity when children are young sets a great foundation for later years when they can begin doing their own laundry.

• Yard work and gardening. Getting outside with children is vital. Fresh air and sunshine keeps us all healthier and happier, and this is especially true for children. If you have flowers to plant, weeds to pull, or vegetables to pick from the garden, children will most likely be happy to help. These experiences also help build children’s understanding of seasons, weather, plant growth, and other aspects of the natural world.

We also have some recommendations for fun books about chores and houseworks to share with your child – and don’t forget to check your library for these titles!

• Bathe the Cat by Alice B. McGinty. “This riotous romp of a picture book follows a frantic family as they try to get some chores done—with no help from the family cat, who keeps scrambling the list of chores to hilarious effect.”

• Lenore’s Chores by Carrie Stuart. “Lenore is a helpful child. She washes the dishes, feeds the dog, makes her bed, waters the plants, and puts her clothes away. After she's done, she gets to play. She'll inspire readers to be more helpful.

• Benjamin Blue Has Very Strange Chores That He Has To Do by C. Spliedt. “Benjamin Blue has some very strange chores that he has to do. C. Spliedt brings Benjamin Blue and a fun cast of characters to life in this magical book that proves that not all chores are dull—and that getting them done can be an adventure!”

• The Berenstain Bears & the Trouble with Chores by Stan and Jan Berenstain. “ Are you having trouble with chores in your house? Share this funny book with your family to encourage everyone to do their share!”

• The Big Squeeze by Molly Harris. “The little sponge has a BIG job. She washes and mops and scrubs away all the messes in the kitchen. But what happens when the mess gets TOO BIG and she just CAN’T clean anymore?”

• Chore Pirates by Johan Klungel. “A funny and familiar story about approaching household chores in a fun and engaging way. For adventurous dish pirates ages 4 years and up.”

• Doing My Chores by T. Albert. “Love shines through this great illustrated kids’ book . Read how a little girl makes chores fun and easy to do.”

  Read more about how children benefit from regular chores:

  • Should You Be Making Your Child Do Chores? (Psychology Today)

  • Household Chores for Children and Teenagers (RaisingChildren)

  • A List of Age-Appropriate Chores for Kids 2 to 18 (The Spruce)