You would probably agree that one of the more challenging tasks in your day is keeping your house picked up as your toddler zooms through it once every half hour. I'm finding little ways here and there to reduce the amount of toys, clothes, etc. that I do have to pick up.
One of those ways is by motivating my 2 1/2 year old daughter to pick up after herself.
I was finding that our kitchen floor was full of mud and dirt from the tiny shoes that were dragging it in the house. I was also noticing that I was picking up small winter coats and mittens and putting them away in the closet more than once a day. Using Love and Logic, I have been able to cross frequent floor cleaning and coat pickup off my list.
When we come home from an outing, before I get my daughter out of the car, I ask, "What do we do before we go in the house?" At first she responded, "What?". I gave her the option of taking her shoes off before she enters the house or taking her shoes off in the car and walking through the dirty garage. She picked taking her shoes off before entering the house. (Thank goodness for her socks.) Now when I ask, "What do we do before we go into the house?", she responds, "Take shoes off."
Then I ask her what she should do with her coat when she gets inside. I had to give her options at first, but then she started to respond, "Put the coat in the closet."
After several weeks of repeating these questions, now when we get home she removes her shoes and puts away her coat. (I even have her putting my coat away now.)
By the way, she is allowed to store her coat in the bottom of the hall closest. I don't worry about hanging it. That way when we need to get ready to go somewhere, she is able to dress herself for the outdoors.
Monday, January 25, 2010
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Giving choices when we as parents do not really care what they decide truly empowers young people within their world. It allows for a sense control. I encourage giving control as much as possible and then strategically taking control when necessary.
With my three-year-old, giving control sounds like this, "Would you like to make breakfast or should I?" Grace responds, "I can." Great one last thing for me to do. As she is moving towards the kitchen, I may ask "What do you think about pouring the milk?" She'll respond with "I'll wait for you." Why? Because she spent a long time one morning cleaning up milk. That's the logic...
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