5 Ways Kids Can Help With the Dog

This post brought to you by ALPO® Brand Dog Food. All opinions are 100% mine.

Hubby and I have been talking about adding more structured chores to the kids’ daily routine. As it is now, there are a few family duties that are their responsibility. They are in charge of picking up after themselves and putting away their own laundry (once I’ve washed and folded it). Anything beyond that is recorded on their chore chart and they are paid accordingly. It’s worked up to this point. They are both willing to help out when we ask, so I haven’t seen a need to add anything more structured to the plan… until now.

Big M is 8 and Little M is almost 7. We want them to have daily tasks that are their responsibility. Since consistency is key, I’m starting off by making a list of ways they can help out. First up, the dog! There are a few things they can certainly do to help with our Furry M (totally a coincidence, I swear I am not M obsessed).

Once I have a solid list we will let the kids pick a few family duties to add to their chore list and we will follow through. I’ll keep you posted on the progress as we go. I don’t expect this will be an overnight change. I have to be ready to follow through!

*Please note that kids should also learn that it is important to wash their hands after caring for their pets.

5 ways kids can help with the dog

• Feeding – Feeding is easy. M and M have been helping with that since they were really little. I’m sure one of them would love to make this a daily chore. ALPO® makes it even easier with pop top lids on all of their cans.
• Brushing – Furry M loves to be brushed. Handing off the duty of making sure she gets brushed daily would be great for me and her. (And might even cut down on the sweeping I have to do… oh the dog hair!)

• Special Attention – Sigh… there were days when Furry M was a puppy that we would sit and gaze into each other eyes. (Weird right?) But then came the kids and the blog and sad as it is, she just doesn’t get the same amount of special attention she used to. There are so many ways the kids could make sure she’s getting plenty of extra love; reading to her, cuddling while lounging, inviting her into their room for rest time.
• Exercise – We’re not ready for M and M to take Furry M for walks on their own, but that doesn’t mean they can’t help out with making sure she gets plenty of exercise. They can play catch with her or run around the backyard with her.
• Clean up – The poop must be scooped…

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