There are lots of great reasons to treat your children (even your youngest kiddos) as accountable, active participants at home by giving them both family jobs and money earning jobs. Here are a few of our favorites:
- It gives them a sense of respect and awareness for their surroundings
- It instills in them a healthy relationship with “stuff” and stops entitlement in it’s tracks
- It teaches work ethic
- It provides them with a sense of belonging that comes only through contributing
- It teaches them how to manage money
Put simply, encouraging kids to clean up after themselves and to pitch in with family chores helps to produce more responsible, capable children. Plus it makes your household run more smoothly (bonus!).
So how do you start? We highly recommend setting up a small number of family jobs (no money earned, done solely to contribute to the family) as well as money-earning jobs for your littles.
These tasks don’t have to be hard or time-consuming and the money-earning jobs don’t have to be worth much. The point here is simply to form good habits early.
To help get you started, here are 4 beginner lists of family jobs and money earning jobs for your toddlers and preschoolers:
Family Jobs For Toddlers
- Put toys back in baskets or bins
- Put groceries in the cart at the supermarket
- Put clothes away in drawers or baskets
- Put books back on shelves
- Hang jackets on hook
- Hang lunchbox on hook
- Put clothes in hamper
- Load or unload the washer/dryer (with supervision)
- Pick up floor clutter
- Help carry in things from car
- Help carry various items from one room to another in the house
Family Jobs For Preschoolers
- Hang backpack by the door
- Take off shoes at the door
- Bring lunchbox to kitchen
- Make bed
- Feed pets
- Bring in the mail
- Put dirty clothes in hamper
- Put away clean clothes
- Sweep the floors
- Set the table
- Bring dirty dishes to the sink
- Help with washing dishes
- Put away silverware, pots and pans, etc.
Money Earning Jobs For Toddlers
- Wiping out sinks
- Wiping down counters
- Wiping down tables
- Dusting accessible shelves
- Matching/sorting organization projects (toys by shape or color, etc.)
- Watering plants
- Helping with snack or mealtime prep
Money Earning Jobs For Preschoolers
- Pairing socks
- Separating lights from darks for laundry
- Pulling up weeds
- Sorting projects (toys, arts and crafts supplies, etc.)
- Working with a parent to choose x number of pieces of original artwork (out of six month’s to a year’s worth of work) to save
- Watering plants
- Washing windows
- Wiping down windowsills
- Wiping baseboards
- Wiping out sinks
- Wiping down counters
- Wiping down tables
What jobs have you found your toddlers and preschoolers are great at tackling? Let us know in the comments section.
And for even more help establishing valuable habits for life, be sure to check out our new:
Kids’ Responsibility & Money Management Kit
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Annie