Lauren and Josh have turned into quite the little helpers. Lauren has always been a good helper or "little mother" as I affectionately call her. This has continued throughout the past few months with the addition of Logan. She loves holding him, playing with him, reading to him....really anything that involves him she wants to be a part of. I find little jobs for her like grabbing burp rags, taking empty bottles to the sink and so on. She eats it up and she craves responsibility. She's 3 1/2. Lately Joshua has also been a little helper. Most times the "jobs" I give him are not followed through with, the exception being taking empty bottles to the sink - he LOVES that job! However, last night the light in the basement playroom was on and I asked Josh to go down and turn it off. AND HE DID IT! It was a total shock to me. I didn't expect him to actually follow through. I expected him to go downstairs, get interested in a toy and then come upstairs to show me the toy all without turning the light off. But he didn't. He went down the stairs, turned the light off and came right back up saying, "we did it, mama, we did it!"
The funniest part is that now Lauren will delegate jobs to Josh. Just yesterday there were two empty bottles by the rocking chair. Lauren asked me if she could feed Logan, to which the answer was no, but she could take the bottles to the sink for me. She said, "yeah, okay," turned to Josh and said, "Joshy, do you want to be a helper?" FUNNY!!!!
I'll also ask her to grab things for me, like pieces of paper or the phone. Well, now she'll ask us or her friends to grab things for her. One of her friends was over the other day and the girls were coloring together. One of the markers was well within Lauren's reach, but she asked her friend to grab it for her! So, if you are at our house and Lauren asks you to get something for her, she's not trying to be lazy but just testing out her "little mother" skills.
I'm thinking about starting a very simple responsibility chart for Lauren with a small reward for her completing the tasks on her chart. I'm not super sure about it and am procrastinating a little. I just don't want to set myself up thinking it's a great idea, have it bomb and then be bummed about the whole thing. I guess it's all just in how I approach it and keeping my expectations very low to begin with. If anyone has any tips or advice, please share!!
2 comments:
Megan, charts are always great fore 3 year olds Remember to stick to it and have a reward that the two of you can agree upon. kenna had a star chart for not crying when being dropped off at daycare...it took a few weeks but she got her 5 stars and her reward was to go swimming at a hotel which was in perfect time for our family christmas in the cities, and now she has no problems. it was hard and frustrating at times not thinking that it was going to work but she finally realized i was serious...next chart will be easier, not quite sure on the goal though:)Hope that that was a little helpful. Take care, and good luck Jana
We did some charts for Vincent for short term stuff like getting ready for bed at night without a fight and potty training. We just implemented some "family chores" he has to do. He is in charge of taking his dishes away from the table, emptying the silverware when the dishwasher is clean, and picking up toys. He has really liked this. On the couple occasions he hasn't wanted to do it, we remind of the fun things our family does sometimes like going to McDonald's or buying little treats or presents and that gets him motivated. Hope the Kraby family is doing well!
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