This will most likely be one of my favorite posts to write thus far. Don’t get me wrong, I love writing about parenting strategies, early childhood academics, productivity tips, etc. but the joy of cleaning is something I cannot wait to pass on.
Yes, I know this makes me sound extremely type A, quite the tightly wound individual, who rightfully so..probably has a touch OCD. A touch!
Although, I don’t think it’s that bad. I am staring at three white pieces of lint on my floor at this very moment and am choosing to write rather than wipe.
But! There is a little reasoning behind the craziness. I truly believe that keeping a clean home helps to keep everything else in order as well. So if you’re an especially busy person with an incredibly busy household, to keep a little bit of calm you’ll need to keep a clean and organized place.
And it’s never too early to start teaching your little ones what to do, and what not to do. So let’s jump in!
*Cleaning v. Organizing. It’s Not the Same
The first thing you will need to understand is that there is a significant difference between cleaning and organizing. Am I losing you yet?… Stay with me.
Organizing your space is very important. This means that any items that are scattered about, and with kids you will have a lot scattered about, are returned to their rightful and most efficient place. This means put your dirty clothes in the hamper, clean clothes in the closet, toys in their storage bins, book on the shelves, unload the dishwasher, etc.
Cleaning on the other hand takes a whole other meaning entirely. This refers to wiping all surfaces with your cleaner of choice, vacuuming, mopping, washing left over dishes, scrubbing the bathroom, taking out the garbage, handling the laundry, and more. The main difference is that cleaning will be physically ridding your apartment of germs and bacteria that are created or brought in.
Cleaning can also encompass organizing, and sometimes does, if you’re house really needs a heavy TLC day. But hopefully with a good schedule in place, you’ll never have such heavy lifting all in the same day.
Now, the more family members you have, the messier and dirtier your house will become. And it might be easy to try and handle it independently at first, but as your kids grow, their messes will grow, and your time cleaning up after them will grow.
So it is quite imperative and honestly, a good responsibility builder, to teach them to care after their things and their space at a young age.
*Learn To Manage Your Expectations
WAIT! Before we jump into exactly how to teach your kids to clean, you will need to check your expectations. Sure we’d love all our kids to be magnificent little cleaning elves with similar results to that of the ever so popular rumba.
But they won’t be.
Your child is not a self performing, highly technical, robot vacuum. If you’re expecting that level of success, just get the rumba.
But it doesn’t mean your child won’t learn! Just like with everything else, it takes time, practice, and hard work. Yes, becoming good at keeping a clean and organized space takes work. I can thank 17 years of living with an extremely obsessively clean Polish father for that. Eastern Europeans are no joke. And you know what, my space is clean, fresh, and I love being home. Love love love it!
However, it will take you time to get there. Two weeks after starting a chore chart isn’t going to get you 17 years worth of cleaning experience with my Polish dad.
All I’m saying, is manage your expectations. And as your little ones grow, their responsibilities will grow, and you can raise your expectations. But right now you’re staring at level 1.
*What Cleaning Looks Like To Your Children
Another thing to keep in mind is how you communicate with your kids. It is pretty instrumental that you teach your kids what cleanliness looks like in your home. This will vary depending on the environment they are in. What constitutes clean at a friends house might not be the same rules in school, and may not be the same rules at home. So it is very important to explain what being clean at home actually means.
If this isn’t done, you’ll definitely run into the age old problem of having your kids shove everything under their bed, in their closet, or throw toys in a corner of their room.
Take the time to go over this before teaching them how to clean so they are aware of your expectations and they can follow along accordingly. Again, if you don’t, you’re setting them up for failure and just inviting a headache on your part.
Alright, it’s time for what you’ve been waiting for. The tips and tricks for getting your kids to clean!
*Tips and Tricks for Teaching Your Child
1. Model Positive Cleaning Behavior: The first thing you’re going to want to do, and this is for anything, not just cleaning, is provide a strong and positive example of the behavior you will want them to copy. Emphasis on the positive aspect.
Let’s say you choose to clean on the weekends, and scurry about with a mad look on your face, muttering things under your breath, and are just overall bothered and unpleasant. Well guess what, your kids are not going to want to partake in that. No one should want to take part in that frankly.
But! If you use it as an actual teaching moment, just like reading, or eating something new, or playing a new sport, or anything, your kids will be much more eager to learn.
So lead by example. Be positive about it. After all, cleaning doesn’t have to be a tedious task. Do a little each day, let the new habits become common practice and you won’t feel overwhelmed. And neither will your kids.
2. Make It Fun! The next tip that I would strongly recommend is to make sure that whatever you are teaching is fun. This is especially important for tasks that may be less than. Reason being, to teach young children anything, you’ll need to keep their attention. And if you want any hope of keeping their attention, the task has to be fun.
Or else they’ll have a melt down or throw a tantrum. So let’s not go down that road. Let’s make cleaning fun. Here’s how…
- Make a Game: Prompt 1: Whoever puts away the items in their room the fastest can choose the next game. Prompt 2: Whoever can make three pairs of socks first wins! You get the idea…
- Use Fun Materials: Use soap bubbles to have them practice scrubbing along side you. Provide a water bin and give them a few safe items to pretend to wash. Or use disposable slime to help dust (great dusting tip!). It sticks to the slime and you can reuse it 2-3x
The point of this again is to have them look at your positive model and copy it themselves. And the more they see you providing the positive example of cleaning, the more they’ll want to do it. Especially if they get to use fun things such as slime or bubbles! Yay!
3. Practice: This tip is an easy one. Practice makes perfect! You can only become very good at something if you practice it enough. So if you want your little ones to learn how to clean to your standards they’ll need to practice it. A lot. But the funner you make it, the more they’ll want to do it, remember that.
So make sure there are different opportunities setup within their day or week to allow them to practice putting their things away and so forth. Also…. If you need a little more help staying clean and organized, try doing the same. Practice putting away 1 or 2 items per day. You’ll be happy you did. 🙂
4. The Beloved Chore Chart: The last tool, which I am sure if the most well known, is establishing a chore chart for your kids. Firstly, this will only work if your kids are of age and understand what this kind of chart means. Secondly, this will only work after you have accomplished the items discussed above.
Let me explain, the purpose of a chore chart is to visually show your kids what they are supposed to clean and on which day. However, they can only do this if:
- they know your cleaning expectations
- have practiced enough to do so independently
- are old enough that the consequences of not completing a task actually means something to them
For younger kids, if the consequence is not strictly related to something they want right then and there, it will be hard to connect the cause and effect later on down the road.
Also, as aforementioned, cleaning and organizing should be more of a helpful and fun task. Not something to be hated.
But if your kids are old enough and can handle their cleaning responsibilities by themselves, then a chore chart is a great visual aid.
5. Bonus Tip: The Preschool Rewards Chart! If your child is younger, such as a preschooler, or pre-k age, a bonus tip would be to create a rewards chart. This differs from a chore chart in a few ways. The first is that a chore chart has a negative connotation. After all, who wants to look at a list of cleaning tasks they need to do.
A rewards chart on the other hand is much more positive. It shows you wonderful things you have already accomplished and how close you are to achieving success and getting your reward.
Can you spot the difference? Positive v. negative. Positive will always win, always constitutes much more enthusiasm, and is much more successful even at very young ages.
So if your kids are younger go for the rewards chart! Keep it positive, let them have fun, and work towards a happy and clean space :).
*Summary
These are just the beginning steps to helping your kids establish a good cleaning routine. There is much more fun to be had beyond this, but this is definitely a good place to start!
Let’s recap really fast
1. Set your household cleaning expectations and communicate them
2. Model positive and happy cleaning behavior
3. Make it fun
4. Practice
There you have it parents! The foundation for hopefully what will become a lifelong happy practice! Is this getting weird? I just love it so much! I’m already thinking of what I can include in a part 2.
And it’s just so beneficial!! A clean space allows for a free mind, creativity to blossom, productivity to take place. The possibilities are endless.
Keeping a dirty or chaotic living space simply clutters your mind, stacks responsibilities, and makes one feel down. So why not opt for the first? We could all use more free brain space.
Have fun with it and teach your kids to have fun with it! Cleaning can be fun!
And as always, If you have any questions, comments, or ideas please share them in the comments section below. And definitely subscribe to the newsletter for updates and ongoing happenings at TylekTeaches.com. The subscription link is just at the bottom of this post.
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