Hans’ Jobs
So, yes, Hans is a big boy and my little helper. Here is a list of his common responsibilities:
- Picking up his toys: unless the mess is overwhelmingly large, Hans picks up all his own toys when asked.
- Unloading the dishwasher: he puts away the tupperware and has now started putting away the silverware. I quickly pull out the knives, then he takes out the forks and spoons, stands on his tippy-toes to see into the drawer, and puts them in their respective places — forks of all sizes together and spoons of all sizes together. Then I come through and weed out the serving spoons and salad forks. He started doing it all on his own, though, without me ever showing him how or where…he watched me, looked into the drawer, and did it himself one day.
- Washing dishes: he very much wants to help with actually loading the dishwasher or washing dishes with soap and water; however, he is not allowed many opportunities of doing so (the one time I did let him resulted in a huge water mess that took 2 beach towels and a bathroom towel to sop up). Now I do this job during naptime.
- Sorting laundry: I have to assign him a basket and toss him things to put in it while I sort the laundry, or else he will go through my piles, attempting to resort them himself. He will help me throw things into the washing machine, but his favorite thing is moving the clothes from the washer to the dryer. I toss the clean clothes onto the dryer door, and he shoves them inside. He also helps me pull the dry clothes out into a laundry basket, and I now save folding for naptime, because he’ll start resorting them.
- Throwing garbage away: anytime we spot garbage on the floor, or after he is finished opening “his mail” (junk mail), I point it out to him and he picks it up and runs it to the garbage in the kitchen.
- Fetching the muffler (pacifier) for Jaeger or a “nose wipe” (piece of toilet paper) for Mommy.
I cannot now do any work without Hans asking “Helping? Helping?” If there’s not some work for him to do as well, he is not a happy boy. Who can complain about that trouble, though?! Why reprimand him for being sad that he cannot work, when I can instead find a job for him?
