Everybody Helps

The house gets clean a lot quicker when everybody helps. Even toddlers can pick up toys and throw away trash. Toddlers often enjoy helping the most. It is amazing what can be accomplished in one hour when everybody pitches in. Also, things stay a lot cleaner when everybody picks up after themselves.

Stay Calm

Stay calm when a rule is broken. Toddlers need a lot of patience. Follow up with an appropiate consequence. Remind the child of the rule.

Expand Rights

Expand the rights and limits as your toddler grows and matures.

Individual Time With Child

Plan a time to spend individually with each child.
Let the child choose the activity.
Eliminate distractions.
Talk with the child and listen to the child.
Allow small children to make their own rules for games.
Be flexible and spontaneous.
Plan special activities around birthdays.

Repeat Rules Often

Toddlers need rules that are simple and repeated often. It takes a while for toddlers to learn and obey rules. Repeat and explain rules often, but keep the explanation simple.

Provide a Place for your Toddlers Belongings

Evaluate where the messes occur. Does your toddler drop everything on the floor as soon as he or she walks in a room? If so, install hooks for coats and backpacks, to make them easy to put away. Put a trash can in every room. Provide a box, shelf, or container to keep stuff in. Have a spring cleaning to discard unneeded items.

Look at Toddler When Talking

Look at your toddler when you are talking to him or her. Stop what you are doing, move close to your toddler, and look in his or her eyes. This action helps your toddler know that he or she is important and that the rules need to be obeyed.

Give Encouragement

Give encouragement when your toddler obeys a rule. Take notice often of even small tasks done and give the child praise. Communicate your happiness when the child is good.

Savings Account

Start a savings account for your toddler. Deposit a little money in it on a regular basis. Plan to send your child to college or trade school.

Rotating Toys

Does your toddler have too many toys to keep picked up? Box some up for another time. Rotate the stored toys every month or so.

Criticize Broken Rules, Not Child

Criticize the broken rule or behavior. Do not criticize the child. Let the child know why behavior was wrong. Let the child know you love him.

Family Time

Ideas for Family Time

Plan an activity together weekly.
Eat meals together whenever possible.
Work and clean together.
Lean new skills together.
Read books together.
Pray together.
Attend events together.
Plan activities around holidays and important family dates.

Be Positive

Be positive around your toddler. Set a good example of good behavior. Toddlers often imitate parents.

Stock up on Easy to Prepare Foods

Caring for toddlers and running errands with toddlers can take more time than expected. Quick meal preparation helps when toddlers are fussy, hungry, and tired.

Rules

Keep rules simple for your toddler. Do give them simple explanations. They can learn a few rules at a time. Praise them when they remember to obey. Remind often. Don´t expect perfection.

Involve Toddler in Helping

Toddlers like to try new things and do things by themselves. Involve your toddlers in helping others. Give them plenty of praise and encouragement. Remember to tell them "Thank You." They will soon learn to tell others "Thank You" by your example.

Crayons and Markers

Toddlers like to draw and will draw on anything, including themselves. Keep markers (especially permanent ink markers) and crayons out of reach of toddlers until ready for use. One day as I was getting ready to go to church my toddler found a blue marker and drew on her face.

Enjoy Big Job Fun

It is good to break the routine up every once in a while to do some chore that doesn´t need to be done every day. Chores such as washing the walls, organizing a closet, and cleaning the windows fit into this category. Toddlers often see these type of chores as big job fun and are glad to help.

Photos and Videos

The first few children seem to get the most pictures. I remember video taping my first baby while he slept for 10 minutes. Life gets busier with more children and picture taking is usually less often. Keep your video camera handy–somewhere you can see it and use it often if only for a few minutes.

Be Consistent

Be consistent in enforcing rules. Toddlers will soon learn what rules can be easily broken without consequence.

Evaluate Our Homes

The first step to making our homes a happy place for our families is to evaluate our homes. What do we have in our homes? Is it uplifting? What type of pictures are on our walls? What type of music do we listen to? How do we talk to each other? Do we yell? Do the children quarrel?

New Things

Toddlers are learning to do many new things. Provide activities that are simple enough for toddlers to do by themselves. Offer help when needed. Recognize that new things can be frustrating. Give encouragement.

Vitamins

Parents with young children often lack sleep and are exposed to colds and illnesses. Taking vitamins daily helps keep you healthy.

Show Love and Appreciation

Everyone needs to feel loved and appreciated. Remember to tell and show love to your children. Compliment and thank them for all that they do. Highlight the positive in each individual. We should show thanks for even the small things. Small things are very important to children. Positive feedback helps to build self-esteem. For example, if a child remembers to wipe his feet, give him a smile. Non verbal messages are especially important. Children can often discern our attitudes toward them.

Simplify Morning Routine

Keep your morning routine simple, especially if you have a few children. Go with an easy to fix hair style. Get up and get ready for the day before the kids awake.

Established a Weekday Routine

Toddlers often do best with an established weekday routine. If the child knows what is expected, then you shouldn´t have to remind him as much to pick up his toys and put away his things.

Daily Moments

Finding Daily Moments to Listen and Talk to our Children

Set aside time to talk to children when they arrive home from school.
Take turns helping a different child each day with his or her chores.
Help with homework.
Help a child clean the bedroom.
Get children ready for bed earlier and talk to them when you put them to bed.
Shut off the TV and read together.
Get up earlier so the morning is not rushed and talk about the plans for the day over breakfast.
Take a child with you when you run errands.
Plan and do a project together.
Be spontaneous. Become involved in whatever activity your child is doing at the time.

Take a Break

No matter how much you love your toddler, everyone needs a break. Take turns with your spouse watching your toddler. Occasionally get a sitter and go on a date with your spouse.

Family Activities

Toddlers love being involved with other family members. Plan a weekly activity with the family. Keep the activity simple enough so that your toddler can participate. Play a game, read, or go to the park together.

Avoid Clean Up Battles

Everybody has bad days, even toddlers. If a child does not want to do a particular chore one day, be flexible. The goal is to have a clean house. Ask what he or she will do instead. It might surprise you what he or she would be willing to do to avoid the dreaded task of the day. Don´t expect perfection from toddlers. Use some humor. Be helpful.

Rub Feet

Toddlers often become tired easily. Rubbing your toddlers feet help the toddler to relax and settle down for a nap.

Headstrong Toddler

Toddlers can be insistent on doing things their way. Recognize their feelings. Showing love and kindness usually works best. Avoid a power struggle. Be consistent with rules.

Be kind, Yet Assertive

Yelling at the kids to help clean usually doesn´t motivate them. They will soon learn to tune you out and often develop low self-esteem. Children respond better to kindness. However, be assertive when needed. Let them know that they need to do their part to help clean the house to benefit the whole family.

Sleep

Toddlers often keep their parents up at night. It usually is not necessary for both parents to get up. The parent, who is not getting up with the toddler, could try wearing ear plugs. This way at least one parent gets a good night sleep.

Provide and Uplifting Environment

We need to provide an uplifting environment in our home, free from negative influences. Television and satellite programing should be monitored by parents and if possible offensive and violent channels should be locked. Use the filters for the Internet to block offensive materials from our homes. Purchase good uplifting music. Hang pictures on our walls that inspire and uplift us. Have good books available for reading.

Objects in the Toilet

Toddlers love to put objects in and play in the toilet. Keep the bathroom door shut. One of my toddlers dropped our cordless phone in the toilet.

Be a Positive Example

Toddlers learn a lot from watching their parents and family members. Be a good positive example to them. Show them how to do new things.

Occasional Reward

Occasionally, do something fun as a reward to the kids for helping out with household chores. Order pizza, go out for ice cream, go ice skating, or go to the park. It is a nice way of saying thank you. Do remember to thank your kids for helping out. Everyone needs to feel appreciated. Don´t dwell on what they could have done better. Praise them for what they did well.

Food

Toddlers love to play with their food. Put away food as soon as possible. One day my toddler found a tub of butter on the counter top and decided to butter his belly.

Be Kind to One Another

We should remember manners and treat each other with kindness and respect. Stop children from arguing before a fight breaks out. Teach the children to be kind to one another. Speak with kindness. If you are in the habit of yelling, try something new, maybe some humor.

Talk and Listen

Listen to your toddler. Tell your toddler your thoughts and feelings. Say things like: I like to see your pretty smile. It makes me happy. You did a good job picking up your toys. Thank You. I love you.

Back Ache

Moms and Dads do a lot of lifting and carrying their children. Back aches can be a problem. Get exercise on a regular basis. A chiropractic adjustment often works well to relieve the ache and tension.

Education for the Parents

New moms and Dads have all kinds of questions about their children. Visit your local library on some regular basis. Check out books about toddlers, children, mothering, etc. Read, Read, Read. You will become more confident as a parent and know how to handle everyday problems.

Family Focus

We may need to rethink our goals and focus on our family. Taking time to be with our family and children is of upmost importance. Children feel important and happy when we take time to be with them and do things together. "Getting things done" can easily take the place of spending time with the family. How often do we say to our children: not now, later, or just a minute? It is a good idea to plan family time and plan individual time with each of our children.

Dry Hands

There is a lot of cleaning up when there is a toddler around. Your hands can easily become dry and cracked. Where rubber gloves when possible. Use hand lotion daily.

Paper Cups & Plates

Keep a supply of paper cups and plates on hand. Small children and babies can be demanding. Occasionally take a break from dishes and use paper ones.

Goals

As we begin a new year, we often set goals that we would like to accomplish during the year. Making New Year´s Resolutions is a terrific way to improve our lives. We should review our goal list and ask ourselves: What are our priorities? Are our goals focused on "getting things done" or on "building better family relations"?