This is a new take on “work hard, play hard.”
One mom has revealed the best way “to get your toddler to fold their laundry,” but her so-called “hack” has divided people online, with some hailing it as “genius” and others slamming it, claiming it’s “child labor.”
“Get your little one involved to make it fun,” mom of two Deb Goddard wrote in the caption of an Instagram post with 1.5 million likes.
In the clip, she shows how to use cardboard to make a DIY tool to help her children put away laundry, combining multiple pieces of the material to craft a foldable board. Each flap, which folds inward, is numbered to guide the toddler as to which side is folded first, second and third.
While some viewers praised the Goddard family for their innovation, others bashed the “hack” as unnecessary.
“Seriously? The kids has [sic] their entire life to be folding laundry. Give them some toys, get down on the floor and play with them instead,” chided one critic, their comment earning over 5,000 likes in agreement.
“Child labor back in!?” another joked.
“Temu factory training,” quipped someone else.
“This is the age when kids want to help and be involved,” another said. “If you wait and teach them that they aren’t involved in household life it will be much harder to teach them the responsibility when they’re older.”
“I need to make myself one of these,” another person wrote.
“GENIUS!” championed someone else.
“I’m wondering if this works for husbands too?” teased one user.
But experts say that the Goddard family might be on to something.
“There can be value to teaching children early on that all family members share a responsibility for maintaining the house,” Jill Trumbell, an assistant professor of human development and family studies at the University of New Hampshire, told USA Today.
“It gives them a sense of ownership, that it’s not just adults doing everything for us. We’re all members of this family.”
That is, so long as the little ones are clearly enjoying the task. If toddlers don’t want to participate in chores, Trumbell advised trying again at a later date instead of forcing it.
“We need to find a good balance between helping children develop self-help skills and having some responsibility in the family but also recognizing that there might be times where they might not want to do things,” she added.