Small children love being helpful. Even my littlest enjoys doing dishes, here he is busily scrubbing at his sister's kitchen sink. A little water may hit the floor, but he is in training to relieve me of the relentless stacks of dishes and I am happy to have his help.
As we give our young ones useful work and then encourage them for their efforts, however imperfect they may be, they are building skills and confidence.
If however, we shoo them out of the kitchen and criticize their every effort, they learn to both avoid work and avoid us.
Teaching them while they are young how to do a job and then encouraging them as they do it is a sure way to build a team that can win.
Do you want to know how to start? First welcome them into whatever work you are doing, hand over the spoon or the dishrag and let them help. When you have crossed that bridge, start making a list of chores they can do and teaching them how to do them.
Here is a link to an ehow article on teaching responsibility to young children.
Here is a link to free printable chore charts.
