10 home skills for chlldren
Do you remember when you were a child, being told to tidy up your bedroom, help with the dishes or dust the living room? Did you sulk, throw a strop and shout at your parents that you weren’t doing it?
And then have your favourite game confiscated as punishment! At that time, you probably thought life was hard and you were being treated unfairly. But, as an adult you realise it is all part of a steep learning curve.
Your parents were preparing you for moving away from the comfort of the family home. They taught you skills you would carry for the rest of your life and pass down the generations. Here are important skills all children can be taught during families’ self isolation.
1 Tidying
Children are naturally untidy, and who can blame them if there’s always mum or dad willing to pick up the dress or dirty football socks left on the bedroom floor?
How much time is wasted by searching for the school book your child had the night before but has vanished by the time morning comes? What does it do to stress levels when you’re both on a strict time schedule the following morning and you have to turn the house upside down to search for that elusive book? It’s never too early to teach your child the value of tidying up after themselves. It doesn’t have to be an onerous chore. Make it fun by getting some big, colourful boxes for them to stash their toys in, put on their favourite music and you can both enjoy turning an untidy bedroom into an uncluttered retreat.
2 Bed making
How hard is it to pull a duvet into position and leave a bed looking neat? It’s much easier for your child than it was for their grandparents, who grew up with blankets and eiderdowns to straighten before they went to school. The tidiest room in the house can be let down by a rumpled duvet and indented pillow, where a little head has rested the night before. So teach your child how to sort out the duvet, plump up the pillow and put their pyjamas under it.
3 Vacuuming
Teach your child the importance of keeping their room dirt and dust-free if they want to stay healthy. Regular vacuuming of carpets and rugs not only picks up dead skin cells, strands of hair and dry dirt, but also discarded food which can be a breeding ground for bacteria. Bed bugs can live for months in carpets if they are undisturbed. And the little blighters feed off human blood at night!
4 Pots washing
Children love bubbles and water so getting them to clean their dirty plates shouldn’t be too difficult, if you don’t have an automatic dishwasher. Washing pots is renowned for helping younger kids with their motor skills and encourages them to learn to play. Older children feel they’re making a contribution to the household by scrubbing dishes. The experience teaches them about cleanliness and routine. If you have more than one child, draw up a rota with one washing, the other drying, then swapping roles the next time they’re tackling the pots. Be careful not to let young children near sharp knives to prevent accidents.
5 Wash day
One of the hardestworking appliances in the home is the washing machine. If you have a big
family, it’s probably churning out clean clothes every day. Get your child into the habit of sorting out what clothes should be washed together. How many colourrun mishaps have there been when a black sock has inadvertently found its way into a white wash? Get your child to load the washing machine and supervise them, pressing the correct buttons to set the wheels in motion.
6 Ironing
The clothes are clean and dry and stacked up waiting to be ironed so your family can look their best. At the ages of between 10 and 13, your child should know how to iron. Start them off on pillowcases to teach them the basics. They can progress onto more complicated items as their confidence grows. Add to the fun by giving them a spray bottle as slightly damp clothes are far easier to iron than bone-dry garments. Make sure the ironing board is stable for them to work on and that the iron is unplugged as soon as they are finished. If you have younger children in the house, keep them well away from a hot iron and its cord, which they may be tempted to tug.
7 Preparing a meal
Most children have played with a toy kitchen and served up fake food on colourful plastic plates. But how about doing it for real? Encourage your child to wash salad leaves and tomatoes, which teaches them food hygiene, and get them to arrange it all on a plate. Little bakers can help mum by rolling out pastry and cutting it into shapes or cracking eggs to add to cake mix.
8 Animal care
Which child doesn’t want a lovable dog or cute kitten to cuddle? But make them aware of how much work is involved in looking after them. Make it their job to feed their new four-legged friend and brush them. Encourage your child to join you in taking the dog for a walk. That way they will also get a chance to boost their fitness levels.
9 Washing the car
If the whole family isn’t on lockdown in the house during the coronavirus pandemic, why not encourage the kids to wash the car? Not only will they benefit from the fresh air but the bending and stretching involved in cleaning will give them an exercise workout. They can have fun with the hosepipe, cleaning the car with a chamois until it’s gleaming, so much that they can see their faces in it. As an added incentive, why not offer to give them a small reward such as extra pocket money or a sweet treat in return?
10 Gardening
Some schools have plots where children grow their own vegetables and flowers. Keep up the lessons by setting aside a space in your garden where the youngest members of the family can make their mark. They can start off by growing flowers from seed indoors to transfer them outdoors when the weather gets warmer. Dad can do the heavy stuff like preparing the ground with spadework, Mum can do any weeding while children can use trowels for digging holes. Drop the seedlings or bulbs into the ground and wait for your plants to grow. Don’t forget to water them and protect them against garden pests like slugs, snails and caterpillars. And, in a few months’ time,you should have an abundant crop of vegetables to eat and bunches of colourful flowers to brighten your home.