When I had my first child, my uncle’s wife gave me some wonderful advice – be seen doing housework and when the child is older, involve the kid in your housework. I didn’t really understand what she meant earlier but I gave it a go anyway. It sounded great – I could get some laundry, ironing and cooking done while my then 5-month-old watched me, and I wouldn’t feel the least bit of guilt. Of course, cooing at her and making conversation every now and then is a must to engage her or I risk letting all hell break loose. Once my little one became a toddler, I got her to help peg the small items or remove them when they were dry. You know that makes an awesome fine motor skill activity, right?
See, I started her ‘training’ really young! (Exposed her to pegging at about 2 years old, and here she is, pegging well two months before she turned 3)
Well, and so it’s been like this ever since. My daughter and I would spend some girly time together preparing meals or hanging the laundry or folding the clothes. In particular, she loves to help out with the laundry and these days, she really is quite a great help and she makes the boring chore a lot more enjoyable as she’d be busy telling me about what happened at school and who her best friends are (mummy is of course her BFF!). Who’d have thought that warm, fuzzy motherhood moments could be experienced while engaging in such a mundane activity?
Barely 5 years old, she always volunteers to peg the small items and put the clothes on the hangers. And now that we’ve started using a fabric conditioner because the towels have gotten a little too stiff for our liking, she’s even started helping out with pouring the softener into the washing machine before the cycle starts:
Being able to help with pouring the softener into the washing machine is quite a highlight for her these days because it’s her newly appointed task and the Comfort Ultra Pure fabric conditioner just smells sooo good! When she sees me putting the laundry into the washing machine, she’d be sure to exclaim, ‘It’s my turn to put the softener!’
Comfort Pure is a hypoallergenic fabric conditioner that is specially formulated for delicate and sensitive skin and its dermatological test formula is safe even for babies. Back when I had my second child, we stopped using a fabric conditioner because I was afraid that my boy’s delicate skin might not take well to it. After comparing with a couple of other brands, we finally decided on Comfort Pure Ultra (he’s over a year and a half now and we were sure he’d appreciate being dressed in super soft clothes and Comfort Pure’s supported by the British Skin Foundation too!) and we’re glad to say that we’re very satisfied with it! Not only does it make our clothes amazingly soft, the fragrance it leaves on the clothes really impresses! Oh, did I just mention that it smells great, again?
Part of the laundry routine with my girl is asking her to help keep the clothes and we’d fold them together at the sofa. With four of us in the family, you can expect that this happens just about every other day, with the little ones contributing most to the pile of laundry. After we get all the clothes to the sofa, I’d inevitably catch her doing this:
Now when the clothes smell this good, you just can’t help it.
I’ve also discovered to my delight that after we’ve washed our clothes with Comfort Pure fabric conditioner, the clothes are so soft that it makes ironing easier (and you know I’m really into ironing, so I just had to give this a mention!).
So, if you’re looking for a meaningful activity to do together with your child, look no further. A half hour spent chatting over the bamboo poles while hanging out the clothes together is a marvelous activity – it’s a sensory experience too, if you use Comfort Ultra Pure.
Disclosure: This is an advertorial. All opinions are 100% mine.
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