Toddlers like to help

Ashleigh can be super duper cheeky. If she gets her hands on something she’s not meant to have, she’ll hang onto it with a grip like a vice. If we’re outside, she’ll run off down the path until the ‘Mummy Monster’ chases her to bring her back to the house.

But these are just little things that Ashleigh treats like a game. For the most part, she loves to help.

Putting a load of laundry on. Yawn, boring. Not for Ashleigh! She loves to help put the clothes in the washing machine. She loves it so much that if I turn away for a second, I’ll turn back to find naked Ashleigh stuffing her own outfit into the machine and shutting the door.

Going to get the mail. Yawn, boring. Not for Ashleigh! Outside is fun no matter what, and lifting the flap on the mailbox to see what’s inside is like hunting for treasure.

Unloading the dishwasher. Yawn, boring. Not for Ashleigh! She loves stacking the bowls together for mum to put in the cupboard and, despite some loud clunks and clashes, hasn’t broken anything yet.

She not only has fun, but learns things as well. Laundry time is a great time to go through colours (although when we’re washing Ashleigh’s clothes, we seem to say ‘pink’ a lot!). She loves to sort the mail, putting anything with windows in one pile, and everything else in another. She can say glass, cup, poon (spoon) and pate (plate), words she may not have learnt during play activities.

I used to try and race through the household chores when Ashleigh was sleeping so that we could do ‘fun’ things when she was awake. I felt guilty if we weren’t playing, singing, dancing, reading and learning every second she was awake. But she likes to help, and she learns while doing it. So now, I give myself a break every now and then – literally and figuratively!