Moms, don’t do it all alone! Kids are fully capable of doing their part in the household. You don’t need to be super-woman because we know you want a break too–I’ve taught my kids at an early age how to help around the house and I feel like this has made me become much more calm as well.
Sure they won’t really be much help with folding yet, but they can help with a ton of other things. It may be things you dislike doing yourself too! Kids love to help out and they can learn an important life skill and build good habits from a young age.
How to Teach Kids How to Help with Laundry & Other Chores
- Introduce the idea of doing laundry to kids
- When my kids turned 3 years old, I started letting them help me put away their clothes. As they got older I would teach them how to transfer wet clothes from the washer into the dryer, and finally how to wash by the time they were 6-7.
- Teach kids how to sort clothes and put them in a hamper
- This can easily be done by simply having separate baskets for darks, whites, towels, delicates. You can tell them what kind of clothes go where.
- Create free closet organization labels for each child’s clothing, bedding, and toys
- Keep dresser drawers neat by using dividers and organizing clothing by type (shirts together, pants together)
- Label your closet with a list of what goes where
- If they are younger, find labels with an image so they can easily see what it is.
- Teach children how to fold clothes neatly with an easy technique that makes it fun
- We watched some YouTube videos that taught us quick little hacks. I really liked this one for tee shirts: https://youtu.be/Rw-rseVKSSg
- We also liked using the folding board, I just made one from a cardboard box.
- Let children help you take care of their own belongings by teaching them how to do laundry themselves or assigning chores they’re capable of completing on their own
- Now that my oldest son is 9 years old, he is responsible for doing his own laundry. If he wants clean clothes, he needs to remember to do his laundry every week. I also use an app (https://www.privilegepoints.com/) to keep track of our chores and he gets points which he can then redeem for screen time.
- At first, he hated that he never had any clean clothes to wear, but soon he realized what he needed to do.
- Reward good behavior with stickers or other incentives like “laundry day” every Friday night when everyone is responsible for taking care of his/her own items so mom can have some time off from laundry duties!
- I also love to praise him whenever I see him starting his laundry without me telling him.
- Make sure your home has plenty of space designated just for family members’ things – this will make it easier for parents to keep up with the housework and not get overwhelmed by clutter!
- Give children responsibility over at least one chore they are capable of doing independently (e.g., folding laundry, putting away their clothes, or putting away clean dishes)
- In our app, I set specific chores for each child. My daughter gets points for cleaning the coffee table, picking up the shoes, and helping me wash dishes. My two older sons gets points for emptying the dishwasher, doing their laundry, cleaning their bathroom, vacuuming, and taking out the trash)
- Encourage kids who want more responsibilities in the household by giving them small tasks that suit their age level (e.g., emptying dishwasher, wiping down counters etc.)
- My kids love knowing exactly what is expected of them. They have a list of chores they need to complete by the end of the week or day and they are always aiming to get as much points as possible. They love seeing the green check marks and telling me what they have done.
Many people may think my kids clean too much, but most of their chores takes them 5 minutes or less! The only thing that takes them long is folding laundry, but I usually help them with that for now.
I get it. You’ve got a million things to do and you want everything around the house done just right. That can be tough when your kids are always on-the-go or making messes all over the place. But if you let them help out with some of these tasks then everyone will have more time for fun activities that they enjoy! Plus, letting your little ones take care of their own laundry gives them an important life skill and builds good habits early in life—and we know how hard it is to keep up with those chores yourself as a momma juggling so many responsibilities at once! Download our free labels below to make sorting clothes easier for both you and your child.
How to Use Your Dresser Labels
These are super easy to use! Just print and cut along the lines. I made 3 different versions — one for girls, boys and one for women.
You can print them on sticker paper, or you can use regular paper and put them inside of the adhesive square label pockets, I picked up mine from the dollar spot at Target. They were only $3 for 20 of them. It was just enough for my 3 kids’ dressers.
I used multiple labels for our dressers since the kids only have 3 drawers each, so I placed underwear with their pajamas etc.
Download Your Free Labels Here
Just click on the image below, sign up for my newsletter and you will be redirected to the freebie right away!
