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| Greetings!
School's
out for summer! But learning never stops, does it? One of the most important
skills we can teach our children is how to clean. It's become a lost art for
many children these days, but it won't be after our " summer cleaning
school". I want to challenge you to involve all your children -- no matter
how young or how old -- in your daily, weekly and seasonal cleaning chores.
Now
here's something you probably already know: Kids won't do
as good of a job as you do. But it's definitely better than not doing it at all,
and over time, they will learn and improve. With consistent practice, they will be proficient at keeping a clean home by the time they are ready to fly the nest. And in the
meantime, your load will have been lightened, which is always a good thing!
Don't have any kids at home? Ssssh, don't tell, but you can apply many of these
tips to reluctant spouses as well!
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Summer Cleaning School
Teach Your Kids How to Clean
Credit: Flickr Commons  | If you
have children living at home, you have no doubt heard the expression,
"Cleaning your home with kids is like shoveling in a
snowstorm." No doubt, kids create a lot of clutter,
and make a big mess. Cleaning up after them can seem like an exercise in futility. The faster you wipe, tidy and dust, the faster
they toss, dump and destroy!
But does
that mean we must lie down and surrender? Live in a pigsty for 18 years?
Obviously the answer is no, but what is the solution? One huge piece of this
cleaning conundrum is the active involvement of your children in daily, weekly
and seasonal cleaning routines. This goes beyond asking kids to pick up their rooms. This is about teaching them to clean, to be fully contributing members of
your household cleaning regime. Think it can't be done? Then you haven't tried
our Summer Cleaning School. Master all four of these tips by August to earn extra
credit!
1. Be
Consistent
This rule
is first because it is far and away the most important. Whether you are
teaching your kids to load the dishwasher, scrub a toilet or simply to make
their own beds, you have to be consistent in your expectations of when and how
it will get done. It's all fine and well
to go gangbusters with the chore charts for a week or two, but if there is no
follow-through, then what have you really taught them? Therefore, in order to
realize the goal of consistency, you must start small. Now is not the time to
teach them how to do the laundry, wash the dishes, take out the garbage, put
away their clothes and scrub the toilet. Pick one or two chores and master them first. Do
them each day at the same time and in the same way. Demonstrate and supervise
as much as necessary for your children to feel confident in the tasks.
2. Be
Predictable
Second
only to consistency is the importance of a routine. Any experienced mom or dad
knows that most children thrive with routine, when they know exactly what to expect. So instead of just haphazardly declaring that it's "Time to clean, kids!", work cleaning
into your daily routine. Easy clean-up cues are meal times: You clean up your
toys, wash your hands and then come to the table. For older kids, this can
translate into putting away their homework, crafts supplies or other projects.
Cleaning the bathroom can be done right before bath time or first thing in the
morning. Wiping off the counter tops and sweeping the kitchen floors should be
done after dinner. To make your cleaning routine even more successful, try
'bookending' the chores between two fun -- and well established -- activities:
bath time and story time, for example, or swimming lessons and lunch. Once you consistently
implement this routine, it will become just that -- routine. Your kids will
know what to do, and when to do it, which means you don't have to spend 20
minutes cajoling them into emptying the dishwasher!
3. Be
Specific
Children
of all ages do far better when given specific, explicit directions. Ever try
telling a three-year old to clean his room? Come back 10 minutes later and the
only appreciable difference will be that even more things have been dumped out!
Instead, try instructing your child to "put all the dirty clothes in this laundry
basket". Then move on to putting trash in the garbage can, making the bed,
and picking up the stuffed animals. Finally, you can finish with a quick dust
and vacuum. (A good rule of thumb on letting children use a vacuum: They should stand at least a foot higher than the top of the machine so they can
easily maneuver the handle. If they are still too small, consider a hand-held
vacuum for quick pick-ups.)
With
older kids, the same idea applies. "Clean your room," may result in a
flurry of activity -- but did you really want all those food wrappers and other
unmentionables shoved into the closet or under the bed? Break the job down into
a series of step-by-step instructions, just like we do in Speed Cleaning. It
might even help to create a detailed check list (with pictures only for little
ones) for each assigned cleaning task, so eager learners can confirm their
progress. Here's one such example from a blogger learning how to keep house
right along with her kids. She created a 25-step list of each job that goes
into cleaning a bathroom, and now her school aged children can clean a full bath every week by
themselves!
4. Be Fun
Cleaning may not be
optional, but that doesn't mean it has to be boring. There are any number of
ways to make cleaning less of a chore, including:
- Dance and dust -- crank up
the tunes and grab the feather dusters for a fun & funky dance party
- Ready, set, race -- set
the timer and see who can finish their chore the fastest. Of course, everybody's a winner when the house is clean!
- "Go Fish" with
the chore cards -- everyone gets a chance to trade chores with a sibling if
they get stuck with a job they can't stand!
- Built in
rewards -- Family Movie Night when the basement is clean; ice cream sundaes
when the kitchen floor has been mopped (although it may need to be mopped again
when the sundae party is finished!)
Teaching your children to clean along with you will probably take (a lot) more time and effort than just doing it by yourself. But this investment will reap great rewards! By being consistent, predictable, specific and fun, you will have them speed cleaning your home with you in no time!
Do you
have a tried and true method for teaching your kids to pitch in around the
house? Maybe you've finally motivated a reluctant spouse to help clean the
bathroom. What are your secrets? Send me your ideas to
jeff@thecleanteam.com.
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 Did you know that a build-up of dust, pet hair and other debris can cause your refrigerator to run constantly? That means your fridge is working harder -- and you're spending more money on electricity! The reason? The build-up effectively "insulates" the coils, preventing them from dissipating heat, which means your fridge never gets a chance to cycle off.
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Hurry, just two weeks left!
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Thanks for reading us this month! Come visit us on the web at www.thecleanteam.com.
Sincerely,
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Jeff Campbell
The Clean Team Catalog |
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