Spend time with them. Take the child to the hardware store with you. I know it's easier to do that alone, but the child learns from being out with you too.
My biggest thing is read read READ and then read more. Try to read by example even if it's just a magazine. Kids pick up on that. Get some books that are not too boring to read like Dr Seuss classics or small board books and read every day. Make it a routine like after dinner while mom's cleaning the kitchen you can read or do baths then read. If you are gone all day your kid needs this time with you. Also, a child that age does not understand the sacrifice of 'work'. You leave, you disappear and come back tired. If mom always does everything then she becomes the figure of importance in when they need care. I think that if a father helps do some of these other child care tasks then the children grow to believe that daddy can take care of them too.
Hrmmm as for MAN stuff...
Helping you sort your tools or other things like the black screws from the gold ones, things like that help them learn categorizing things and they can do that at an early age. It also helps develop the muscles in the fingers and fine motor skills. Of course they may eat those screws, so you can't let them do that alone. ')
Also offer to share your servings of things with them. Get an apple and say "Want to share this apple with me? Let's cut it in half." Then have them wash the apple and dry it, then you cut it. (I know this seems weird but kids just thrive on this sort of mundane stuff.)
Be sure to have a real clock in the house. They don't have to learn it at an early age, but so many homes are entirely digital.
Plant some flowers together. Petunias and marigolds are very hardy, or put a shasta daisy bush in a pot and water them together every day. Your child will thrive on that routine and will start to ask you right when you get home to water the flowers. LOL All of my children absolutely loved this and it's very easy to maintain. It's also a great photo op watching a toddler scooping the dirt out of a bag into a pot and trying to be gentle with the flowers.
My son had to smell each one every morning.
Just remember the reading. Even at this age imagine just 5-10 minutes a day reading with you. Add that up by 3-4 yrs by the time they enter kindergarten imagine the results you can have with your child.
Also the most wonderful part of that is your child spent over 1000 hours getting your devoted attention. That is more imporant than anything.
. thanks
