Toddlers want to help with everything! Encourage them to help clean up after meals. In our home, EVERY day was a Dixie day. (It was a jingle the paper plate company Dixie Ware used to play.)  Paper plates are easy in that they go in the trash but watch for utensils making their way to the garbage as well. (An excellent suggestion is to gather utensils first, THEN trash the paper plates)

If you would rather use real dishes, get some that you don’t mind having broken for the next 20 years. Seriously, adult children come home and break things too! In other words, be practical; you could break them too. So, make it easy on yourself and everyone else and get some everyday dishes or melamine kid-friendly dishes meant for every day. This way, you can start them helping bring dishes to the kitchen.

They can either hand them to you or put them in the dishwasher. We put all the sharp knives at the back with the blade in first, so they can’t get cut. (This is a good rule because anyone can slip and land on a knife sticking up.)

You could have them try to put plates on the counter or in the sink, but most 1-2-year-old children are not tall enough yet to do that well. It is not recommended to climb a chair or step stool with a plate in hand.