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I’ve seen many different list of age appropriate chores for children pinned on pinterest. Most all of them say that kids as young as 5 years old can help with loading the dishwasher and putting clean dishes away. I had personally let my oldest (5trs) put the clean silverware away but had never gone as far as putting the rest of the dishes away, let alone loading the dishwasher. Today I decided to give it a try.

First I had Abby (4yrs) scrap all the lunch dishes. This was something they were use to doing so no big deal.

Then I had Anabel scoop the lunch food into a tuber ware and put it in the frig. They love to help with chores in general that adding another task was very exciting to them. Usually I don’t have them do to much in the kitchen in less it is a designated time where they help me make cookies or something.

Then I had Anabel get up on a chair and had Abby bring her the clean dishes in the dishwasher for her to put away. Abby was like ‘We are doing team work!’

Then Abby took her turn on the chair at the sink. I showed her how to rinse the dishes and hand them to her sister which in turn Anabel would put them in the dishwasher. I took time to show and explain to them how we fill the dishwasher to get the most dishes in at a time ect. They adored this! Anabel even learned how to load the soap and turn on the dishwasher.

It did take a little long then if I was to do it by myself but I felt it was so worth it and I was very glad I gave it a go. I’m not saying I’ll always have them help me do the dishes but I think it was a good chore for them. I also think that Anabel is so detailed oriented that she will learn the correct way to load the dishwasher fairly quickly.

Overall very successful!