Self-Care Skills and Daily Life Studies
Your children’s motor muscle development and hand-eye coordination are supported to a great extent, especially kitchen activities provide a great basis to support sensory development. With the creativity and problem-solving exercises that your children will need while doing their work, their cognitive development is supported, and at the same time, they encourage sharing, helping, taking responsibility, etc. When they learn, they also do great work in terms of social-emotional aspects.
Now let’s examine the developmental stages of self-care skills and supportive studies between the ages of 2-3.
By the age of 2-3, your child is now at a level to be able to eat on his own. Here, the most important task falls to you. It would be a great step to teach your child to eat on their own, even if it’s just to let the mess or things get a little dirty. If you started watching us earlier, your child is probably already at this stage. However, if you have become our new follower and your child hasn’t started to eat by himself yet, we recommend that you change your attitude quickly and establish an order where you can sit with your child and support him/her to acquire the habit of eating with pleasure instead of putting things into his mouth forcibly. At the age of 2-3, your child’s hand-eye coordination will be quite advanced and he can eat with a spoon without spilling it. However, experience and repetition are essential for the development of such coordinations. In other words, he will make an effort at first, spill it on the floor a few times, maybe play light games, but gradually he will start to eat his meals well with the awareness and care that it is time to eat. During this period, your child can easily pick up his glass, drink it and put it back. If possible, put a clear glass so he can see what he’s drinking and watch the consequences of his actions. While children can generally use the spoon more quickly; they may master the use of the fork later. If you have started to trust your child in these matters, he/she is already using his fork, but if you are a beginner, usually children can eat well with a fork towards the age of 2.5.
During this period, your child can wear his hat, socks and shoes himself. We recommend choosing clothes and shoes that are easy to put on and take off to give your child the feeling that they can do it on their own. Velcro shoes are ideal for this period.
Your children love to follow you around the house and imitate household activities through their games. Involve your little one in the housework. Create a small space for him while you are in the kitchen. Especially with a spoon, work on transferring from container to container. Lentils, raisins, muesli, etc. you can put Make sure that the materials you put in are materials that will not pose a choking hazard if they get into their mouths. Then you can start to do the transfer work with liquids. For example, it can transfer water from one tiny glass to another. In this way, you will not worry about what my child is doing while you are working in the kitchen, and your child will enjoy “working” with you. Think about it, if you were your child, wouldn’t you prefer to spend a pleasant time in the kitchen with your mother instead of being trapped inside a small playground. You can also do many culinary activities together. Washing dishes, placing the machine, washing the salad, sorting the beans, making cakes or bread together are just a few of them.
Baby dressing, feeding, etc. with your child. do the activities. First, gradually show your child how to do it; Then give him time to do it himself. You can wear blouses with large buttons and velcro fastening, etc. in front of you. Slowly show your child how you opened it. He will observe first and then gradually begin to do it on his own. Do not interfere while trying to do. Let him try it himself and experience the pleasure of being able to do it.
Let your child have his own plate, fork and spoon at the table. It would be nice if you could sit down to dinner as a family. We know that this is not possible in every family due to long working hours and busy calendars. However, try to eat breakfast, dinner or on weekends in an order where everyone sits and gets up together as a family. Encourage your child to eat by himself. Do not criticize harshly when spilled. In the beginning, shedding is very normal until there is a certain coordination and motor muscle development. You can warn your child in a calm voice about being careful later on; You can remind him that he will not spill no matter how he does it.
Clean up with your child. He will love to dust with a small duster or to clean floors with a broom and dustpan his size.
Have the hanger pipe of the wardrobe fit your child’s height. In the beginning, for example, take two clothes and have him choose them. Having too many options can also be confusing. Make sure that your summer and winter clothes are not in the same place. Otherwise, you may come across a child who always insists on wearing shorts in the middle of winter. Then, as long as you can make these choices easily, help your child to pick up the items from the closet himself and put them away again. Remember that during these periods, your child loves order very much. If such behaviors become a habit during this period, he will acquire a very good habit that he learns with pleasure.
As we said above, when filling your closet, choose loose and comfortable clothes and shoes that can be easily put on and taken off (for example, with Velcro). This type of clothing not only does not prevent your child from moving, but also supports him to be more comfortable to put on and take off on his own.
If possible, give your child small responsibilities. Like watering your flower, arranging your bed, bringing a napkin to the table. The number of responsibilities should not be high so that he does not take as much responsibility as he can and give up after a while. Your child can also choose which responsibilities they want to take on.
Do not forget to be an example and pioneer in putting back the items you bought and being organized. All these studies will make it easier for you to spend time together at home and will enable your child to meet their own needs in a much shorter time in the future.