The biggest dish factory: the sink

There's no doubt that washing dishes is one of the most common household tasks, and although dishwashers save a lot of time for their fortunate owners, there's still time to be spent even if not as much as with manual dishwashing. Safety considerations, like with most household chores, are important to keep in mind when involving children in this activity. There are many approaches to this, varying according to age. For example, you can assign individual tasks for each day, or if you have multiple children in the family, they can work together to take care of clean plates, utensils, etc. Younger children can handle rinsing or drying, or they can help with putting away dishes. If you're worried about giving fragile items to smaller, clumsier hands, let the youngest ones be responsible for utensils (except sharp knives) or plastic kitchenware. If you have a dishwasher, teach them how to load it optimally. It's important to consider individual abilities when training them. Here are some suggestions and ideas for dishwashing tasks broken down by age.