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Put Your Toddler to Work

Posted on March 21, 2013September 25, 2019 by Angela Taylor Hylland

No one has raked leaves this fashionably in the history of raking leaves. — Raking leaves in style.

That’s right, you heard me. Put your toddler to work.

They’re always so bored with their buckets full of fancy toys, right? And they love chores. Why? Because they see you doing them, and they idolize you.

(We don’t have to tell them we don’t like chores. They’ll figure that out on their own … hopefully many many years from now.)

So get to work, toddlers! Er, I mean, have a blast!

Sweep the floor. (Can’t imagine how those sprinkles got everywhere.)

Wash your toys. (Good practice for the real deal in years to come.)

Pick the weeds. (Did I say weeds? I meant beautiful dandelion flowers.)

Pick something new for dinner. (You’d be amazed what they find at that level.)

Water the plants. (Preferably while wearing an adorable getup, ala Holly Hobby.)

Decorate cookies. (Or better yet, a salad “canvas,” or a pizza face.)

toddler activity carwash — Wash the car. (Make sure you get all those Cheerios in the back.)

Clean and chop veggies. (No, not with Mommy’s knife; with a plastic one.)

Sort the laundry. (Towels in one basket, your clothes in another, Dad’s socks in that drawer…)

The moral of the story? You don’t need imported novelties or expensive museum memberships to entertain a child. Life and learning are endlessly entertaining. Even chores.

If only they could teach us all to see the world that way.