This toon at The Oatmeal rings so true… many adults are very clueless how to load a dishwasher.

Just stuffing things in does not work well – at least not if you actually want to get it clean! Cutlery face down in piles? Not really. Face up, and if you put two spoons next to each other they’re likely to stick. Things like that. To me it’s simply a neat puzzle with 3D objects!

Phoebe already helps me unload the dishwasher. I’ve made sure that all the essentials in the kitchen (plates, pans, cutlery) are in the low cupboards so she can do most of it without assistance – also useful for setting the table. Over time she’ll pick up how things are laid out from that – describing it in “rules” would be quite complex, exhausting, boring, and not stick…