What should I tell DD about chores?

[Leiiki]

I hate cleaning. I see DD beginning to dislike it, too. We are firm about picking up one activity before starting another, and we have loose, toddler- (and me-) friendly storage. When she resists, I'm tempted to tell her that I don't like cleaning, either, it just something we have to do. On the other hand, I want her to form her own opinions and *try* to make cleanup fun.

What approach would you take? Should I pretend I love cleaning, or be honest?

[cdeweese]

I wouldn't pretend to be happy cleaning if you aren't, but I'm big on being honest with my kids (as much as they can reasonably handle). Kids (like adults) don't always have to be happy about everything. I dont see a need to give your opinion about cleaning though. I always say, "I know its not fun to clean up, but you took out your toys and now you're going to put them away." Most of the time they aren't happy about it, but it gets done. And no amount of singing the clean up song or offering rewards seems to encourage them. But when they realize its not a choice, it gets done faster and we can move on to having fun elsewhere

[mibarra]

Id be honest. She can tell you don't like it anyway.

[EmilytheStrange]

I'd be honest. I was reading a parenting book sometime earlier this year that says your kid can tell. They said that the parents doing the whole 'unified front' was unnecessary because if one parent really doesn't care, it shows. Point being: she's gonna know you don't like it no matter what you pretend.

I would just teach her that it's something we do. Whether we like it or not. There's no time like the present to learn that we don't have to like everything we have to do. Best to instill that right away.

ETA: I guess your DD is about 5-6months older than mine - honestly, I don't worry about it. DD can pull out every toy she owns and it will take me 5minutes to clean it all up. Maybe she just doesn't have a lot of toys sometimes I 'make' her help me clean up and sometimes I don't. but I do know I can't be like 'let's pick up the blocks!', I have to be all 'put the red one in here, now get the green one, etc'. Big tasks can seem really really big to little ones. So, maybe if you were able to put it into smaller chunks, she would be less likely to resist. And maybe if the bins are big enough and the toys are fluffy enough, you could interest her in a game of 'baskettoy' tossing the stuffed animals or whatever into the bin.

that's all I've got.

[my2sweets]

Im honest with my girls. I hate washing dishes-even more so now that we dont have a dish washer. Dd1 now helps out with dishes(one of us dries while the other washes). She doesnt like it and at 1st told me all about it lol I looked her straight in the eye and said 'I feel the same way! However, we dirty the dishes so we must clean them or we'll end up eating off the floor with our hands. So lets just get it done so we can go do something more fun.' She no longer complains.

Of course she's almost 8 so a lot different then a toddler but Ive always taken the 'this is how it is so suck it up, get it done, and move on' appoarch(but in kidly friendly terms of course lol) and I can tell my girls are learning to not dwell on unpleasant tasks. They're really understanding that we all have things we must do that we really rather not so we have 2 choices 1-sulk around, let it linger over our heads and make us miserable or 2-do it and move on with life.