Care of Environment: Cleaning with a Young Toddler

Should children be required to do housework?  At what age should a child be required to do "chores"?  Trick question!  If a young child (toddler or even younger) is given the opportunity to participate in housework, he will most likely be happy to help!

Children want to do what we do.  This is why instead of toys, Montessori classrooms are filled with real-life items.  The practical life area is made up of three main components--care of self, care of environment, and grace and courtesy.  Today I will focus on care of environment!  Dr. Maria Montessori observed that children don't just want to play.  They want purposeful work.

When I created Calvin's weaning area, I included a stack of cleaning towels on a low shelf.  A six-month-old is a very messy eater, so in the beginning, I used them constantly to wipe up Calvin's table, chair, and sometimes even the floor and walls around his weaning area.

One day when Calvin was around 11 months old, he spontaneously grabbed one of the cloths and began crawling around wiping things--the floor, the walls, the refrigerator.  I had never given Calvin a lesson on this; he just picked up on what he had observed me and others doing.  

Calvin loves playing in water, so when he is done drinking his water he often intentionally spills the remaining water and splashes in it.  After seeing him use the towel, I decided that instead of wiping up Calvin's spills I would hand him a towel and ask him to wipe up himself.  In hindsight, I probably should have done this much sooner!  When I handed Calvin his towel he happily wiped up his spill, and I was quite impressed with what a thorough job he did.

He now uses the yellow cleaning towels all the time.  He will spill something on the floor (sometimes intentionally, sometimes unintentionally) and will go get his towel to clean up.  Sometimes we will ask him to wipe up his spill, but often he wipes it up without us saying anything.  He will even go on cleaning sprees and wipe the coffee table, the windows, the walls, or anything he feels needs to be wiped down.  With a dog and a toddler, it is generally safe to say the whole house could use some cleaning!

For Calvin's first birthday we gave him an Ikea Duktig kitchen (complete with running water and a cutting board--I will post more about the kitchen another day), and I hung some child-sized cleaning supplies on Command hooks next to the kitchen.

Calvin was immediately drawn to them and knew exactly what they were for!  He was not yet walking, but that did not stop him from sweeping!

He uses both the large broom and the small broom and dustpan often.  He is becoming more effective with his sweeping.  His favorite part is emptying the dustpan into the garbage can!

I wanted a toddler-height sink to allow for independent hand washing, but Calvin soon found other purposes for the sink, including dish washing!  As soon as he began putting dishes from his cabinet into the sink, I bought him a small dish scrubber and showed him how to scrub the dishes.

These are just a few ways that Calvin is included in cleaning at home.  Some other ways he helps are putting his laundry down the laundry chute, loading the washer and dryer, throwing away his garbage (and sometimes ours, too!), and most recently, now that he can reach the counter top, putting his dishes into the sink when he is done eating.

Being included in household chores is important for young children.  It fosters independence and responsibility.  Calvin is only 17 months old, and I can already see how proud he is when he does a simple task like pressing the button to open the garage door or throwing away his banana peel.  Even the youngest child wants to feel like a contributing member of the family.  

I will be honest, I often overlook ways that Calvin could be helping because I am just so used to doing everything myself.  Of course I want him to help when he is old enough, but it often does not occur to me that the time is now!  Luckily, Calvin knows when he is ready.  When he first grabbed that towel and started cleaning, I knew I needed to provide more opportunities for him to clean.  This is what Dr. Montessori called "following the child"--when you see an interest in a certain activity, find ways that you can help develop that skill!

I am just amazed by the ways my 17-month-old is already contributing to the care of our home, and I cannot wait to see his skills continue to grow!