Today’s Parenting Tip:

DECIDE:   To teach your child to clean up.

PRACTICE:       Today, begin to include your child in cleaning up his toys and activities.

If he has not had to do this before, let him know that you have decided this is a good thing for him to learn.  Also explain that it will help protect his things and give his projects the respect they deserve.

You can have regular “cleanup” times in the day. With young children it is best to have several throughout the day.

When there is a daycare provider ask him to follow your same schedule. Or, if your daycare has it’s own schedule for clean-up, try adopting that same schedule at home.

Clean-up time is also a great time to admire any creative projects your child has done. That makes clean-up time have an extra bonus for the child and not just be an unwanted task.

For young children, you can make a chart that shows how clean-up is done – when, by whom, and where things go.

Today’s Decide and Practice daily parenting tip was inspired by our featured picture book, THAT MAKES ME MAD!.  Read the book to a child in your life each day as a reminder of what you are deciding and practicing that day.

Come back each day for another good parenting decision and how to practice it. (Each day’s activity will also be posted on the Daily Parenting Tips page for easy access.)

Read the whole story at What You Need to Know about an Angry Child, Part 2.