Experiments in Child Labor

Owen is about fifteen months old.  This is a wonderful age because he wants to imitate everything we do.  He likes to pretend almost anything (banana, book, toy, shoe) is a cell phone and holds conversations in baby babble.  This innate desire to copy you should be exploited as child labor.

And here is how.

Complete household chores in front of the toddler with a gigantic smile on your face.  Sound effects are bonus.  Encourage your toddler to try.  Purchase child sized items for toddler to complete chores more effectively once interest is locked in. 

The most successful household chore Owen helps with is the laundry.  Between my mother and I, we have taught Owen to empty the lint trap (his job specifically), put dirty clothes down the laundry chute, put dirty laundry into the washer, put wet clothes into the dryer, and push the laundry basket from the laundry room to the living room where I fold the laundry while he watches television.

We're working on the sweeping.  He has a child sized broom, but I can't seem to target his sweeping.  My goal is for him to sweep up the food on the floor he dropped.  The other day, I caught him sweeping things under our rug.  No kidding, he picked up the corner of the rug, turned it over, swept some dust to that area, and then turned the corner back.  And I could have sworn he wasn't there the couple of times I did this.

He'd probably vacuum since he knows how to unwind the cord, plug it in, turn it on, and generally how to push it.  The problem is that it is much larger than him, and I imagine the worst if I were give him a hand held.  The toddler curiosity plus suction power seems like too dangerous of a combination.

And when we're all done "playing" at household chores, he opens the freezer to fill our cups with ice while I pour the juice.

Lessons learned:
1. The earlier, the better.
2. Even if you don't think he's watching, don't sweep things under the rug.
3. If I had better habits of picking up after myself, he'd probably know how to put away his own toys.
4. Enjoy the cleaning is playing stage and exploit the child labor while you can.