PARENTING
KIDS OF ALL AGES LEARN FROM THEIR PARENTS’ DIRECTION WRITTEN BY JUDY GOPPERT
We help our kids learn responsibility by assigning tasks to them. Kids not only learn responsibility by completing tasks, they also learn about attitude, the idea of taking action, and the feeling of being proud of accomplishment. And they know Mom or Dad won’t always do it for them.
TASKS FOR TODDLERS
When you consider assigning a task, make sure your child is capable of doing it. For toddlers and young children, model behavior for simple one-
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SIMPLYkc MAGAZINE
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NOVEMBER 2022
step tasks. Include your little ones by calling them the “helper.” Complete the task together and make them feel important and useful. “For example, we were at a wedding shower and my cousin’s three-yearold daughter was the bride’s helper,” notes Jodi Briggs, chief of staff at Notre Dame de Sion Schools of Kansas City, and former grade school and high school principal. “She sat next to her and collected the wrapping paper and tissue paper and gave it to her aunt to help.”
For young children, task charts are an excellent visual. Get fun stickers and use pictures and words. Set aside a certain time of day to complete the task, whether it be reading a book, feeding the dog, or washing a few dishes. Make it a game and count the stickers when they are done. Have an end-of-week celebration— an ice cream cone, screen time, or doing something else they love. This doesn’t have to cost money. “Madden (my grandson) and I planted a blackberry bush together. He
