Tuesday, September 1, 2009

How to teach a 2 year old to Clean

American Living Room


Many years ago, when my children were small, I was very ill. I had just given birth to my fifth child. The oldest was nine years old. I was being treated for cancer and couldn't do much. I had already taught my children to clean and do most of the housework.

Matthew was four years old at that time. He was in charge of our living room. This was where all the children played. We had two large toy boxes in there. Matthew had to pick up all those toys and keep the room neat. Well, one day, he asked me why he had to always clean that room. . . He was such a cutie. . . So I said, "Well, if you don't want to clean, then teach Amy how to do it and then you'll never have to clean it again!"

Amy was 2 years old then. She was an adorable little wild girl. She LOVED her brother so much and was his very best friend. So Matthew sat there on the coffee table and told her what to do. He made the whole thing into this fun game for her. He would say things like, "run and get that bear... now throw it in the toy box...now grab that block and throw it in there too!" He had her racing around the room, laughing and working. She had that room clean in no time. I just stood in the doorway and watched.

When the room was all clean, Matthew crossed his arms over his chest and smiled proudly. He looked back and grinned at me. He never had to clean that room again.

Blessings
Mrs. White

5 comments:

Dimple said...

Wonderful! This is so cute, I can just see the action!

Anonymous said...

HAHA I love it! Now if only I could get my kids to do that...lol!

Deanna said...

Dear Mrs. White,
I rejoice that you aren't ill with this cancer now.

Children may be young and yet be taught some task. This is amazing.

May you have a blessed day,
d

Test said...

I LOVE it! My 20mo helps with several "chores" because he thinks it's a fun thing to do and not work at all! People are always amazed that I "got him to help" at such a young age. It isn't at all anything that *I* did; he wanted to help out so I taught him what to do.

Kelli said...

This is so wonderful! I love this.