"I loved that doing the laundry and cleaning activities remind me how easy it is to engage my child in what I’m doing and how they can help with activities I complete. After the folding clothes activity I invited my son to help me clean the floors - he used a kids size mop and we went over our floors. We also washed the windows. I will admit that I could get the task done faster but I now know that’s not the point. The connection with my child and the activity allowed us to spend time together and eliminated him watching television while I cleaned."
~ Mother of two children aged 4 and 6.

"I was very certain when I started the laundry activity that it would take some time to complete, but to my surprise, my daughter did it the first evening of trying it. She was silly and I did have to ask a couple of times, but she ended up doing it. I decided to try again for a few evenings before bed. On the second day my husband was very distracting to her. He kept talking to her while she was doing it and she was too distracted and even said NO to him and ignored him. Eventually, she did do the activity but it was very difficult. The third night I did it alone with her and she did it with no problem at all. She was happy but concentrated and focused. I could tell she was proud after completing the task. The fourth night had me the most surprised. When we walked into her bedroom she specifically looked for the basket and clothes. Without any statement from me, she put the clothes in the basket and then brought the basket to her drawers and put the clothes away. I seriously was blown away.
This activity helped ME realize the issue is how we present things to our daughter. When I sit patiently and explain things and give her my full attention, she is absolutely capable of completing a task. I need to learn to slow down and make time for these moments to happen. I also realized we need to stop interrupting her mid-activity, and give her the time to think in peace, learn, explore, etc. As I mentioned earlier, one evening my husband interrupted her with talking and then it all went downhill. And really, we do that ALL of the time. I will be taking these lessons with me as I slowly start to give her more chores, as it helps me and I can tell she is happy and proud after she accomplishes it."
~ Mother with a 4-year old daughter.

"It looks like I’m the biggest winner with all that I’m learning! [My 3 year old son] enjoyed it a lot and was very excited to prepare his juice. His [8 year old] sister was also very excited... I loved observing his movements and the attention he paid looking to see if there was more juice to squeeze or not! I was very proud to see how he was able to follow the instructions... I think it is a very nice exercise to do because you can observe the learning process and their rich expressions and excitement!"
~ 38 year-old mother of three children.

"That went well. Truly no shortage of insights there: The tray for one; talking then showing, rather than at the same time – which is what I usually do. Indeed, [my daughter] was very happy and focused. She cut all of the potatoes and folded all of the clothing. Calm, focused, appropriate: it's hard to come by, but worth searching for. 2½ year-olds are impressive if you know how. Thanks for that."
~ 40 year-old father of two children.

[My 2½ year-old] did the activity for 16 minutes. He was very interested and excited. To be honest after I presented the activity I thought the amount of pasta was too much and would take him ages to separate and he would get bored but this wasn' t the case. In 16 minutes he repeated the activity three times and the most important thing is he really loved it. I would recommend it to other parents because with these activities kids learn real life skills and these help them a lot... it is usually hard for toddlers to focus on something for a long time. Having my son do the activity and sit there for 16 minutes, made me realize he is a toddler now and he can do things by himself.
~ 35 year-old mother of two children.

My son really enjoyed pressing orange; because children like to try new activities. I showed him how he should make it at first - like mentioned; after my son repeated. He listened carefully and concentrated on what he was doing. After we made it he wanted to repeat pressing orange and we tried once more. He wants to press juice all the time. He exaggerated what he had done to his nanny. He also talked about his success while he was on facetime with his grandmother and grandfather. Also, I like this kind of activity. I usually laugh at my son's actions and his language. It was a joyful activity for me also. I recommend this kind of activity to my friends also.
~ 35 year-old mother of one child.

Food preparation: When I asked her to prepare food with a real knife she was super excited and very happy as she was doing an adult mission! She liked the activity a lot and spent nearly twenty minutes (which is quite a long time for my daughter).
Squeezing juice: She tried pushing instead of squeezing first and It was challenging for me to stop and watch without interrupting. I think the activity was much more beneficial for me to teach about being patient about the process
~ 30 year-old mother of one child.

On pressing juice: While he was trying to hold the tangerine, he was saying "I can squeeze repeatedly" in Turkish. He was really excited and after a few trials, he decided to squeeze the tangerine with using his tiny hands. He was fully concentrated , he was even sing an English Song " A is for Apple, A A apple..." he also repeat the words potato, apple, kivi, orange and of course one of his favourite LEMON. My husband and I were fascinated with the words he was using. I just interrupted once and asked Ali, "Chef Ali, can you prepare a glass of tangerine juice for me?” He replied back to me, "Of course", I cannot find how we felt at the moment he used this expression. I can say that (our son) is just like a blank hard drive and he is processing... knowledge in a blink of an eye. We have interacted and had a chance to enter his world. I can say that (our son’s) world is fascinating and there is a lot to discover about it, thank you again.
~ 39 year-old mother of one child.

I also engaged my son more in household chores, such as helping me prepare supper or set the table or tidy up or fold clothes. I observed that being useful and achieving to do a grown up thing builds his confidence and makes him feel more mature and happy. While we do these we talk about lots of stuff, we do active listening and sometimes these conversations lead up to very very interesting ideas and stories. When we spend time together I feel we are bonded closer than we ever were. I feel that he feels he is important to me and that I have time to listen to his creative ideas and everyday concerns. For me, this has been a blessing because I feel that I am a "better" mom, better friend, better companion to my son and I cherish these carefully planned "together" times... Thanks to you, we have a closer relationship and yesterday before he went to sleep (my son) said that I was his best friend and when something extraordinary happens I was the first person that he wants to tell what happened. (I guess this is normal when he is 6, but I feel that we are enjoying spending time together more, which is very encouraging for the future).
~ 48 year-old mother of two children.

When I introduced her the task, she said "Cool, we have never drank a tangerine juice"… She was concentrated and squeezed every tangerine I halved and put in front of her. Prize orientation is a topic me and my wife thinks constantly about. It is part of the adult life as well but we try to prevent her to do tasks just to get the prize... not talking while showing actually works! I will pay very much attention to it from now on. She was listening to me when I was telling what she will do and super concentrated on my hands when showing it to her. This is my number one take away indeed. Also giving this task and observing her was fun and made me get to learn about my daughter in a deeper sense. I would definitely recommend it to the other parents. It was really fun for us, thanks! Next laundry folding session, I also will use the methods and observe her more concentrated.
~ 34 year-old father of one child.