Making It Easier for Kids to Help Clean House
An excerpt from Charlotte’s eBook Children Doing Chores
As with any task, good quality tools enhance the experience and the outcome. Using an old, worn-out vacuum cleaner makes it harder to get the carpet clean. A new vacuum may not be in the budget, but give some thought to saving up for one. We decided to buy a cheaper one at the local discount store, even if it meant replacing it every year (but it has lasted three years so far).
Our children get excited about new housecleaning tools! A new mop, new broom or new kind of cleaner is an object of interest and discussion. When it comes time to buy their own someday they will already have experience and preferences for useful tools.
Store your cleaning supplies at the point of use, if possible (and safe for little ones in the household). If you have two bathrooms, have two sets of cleaning supplies.
Or set up a cleaning caddy with cleaners, paper towels or rags and whatever else you need to carry with you for cleaning. Some systems use a special apron with pockets for supplies. Sometimes a new way of doing things adds fresh motivation to the job.
There are all kinds of cleaning videos on YouTube that you can watch for training sessions. Make it fun—watch it with popcorn and hot chocolate! Do a search for “how to clean” and you’ll come up with a treasure trove. It’s a good idea to pre-screen, however, to see if it’s a method you want to use and to make sure it’s suitable for the children to watch.
[break][/break]I don’t know if it’s genetic, but all of our sons would find items while cleaning and wear them to finish their chores. I would come into the room to find them wearing a Davy Crockett coonskin cap or a princess crown or a toddler cowboy hat while they were vacuuming—whatever they came across in the daily room straightening. It added some humor to the daily grind!
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For more step-by-step how-to’s for getting kids to help around the house:
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