Cleaning with Kids

In the early days, my kids were very eager to help with cleaning and household chores. I’m no fool, I put them to work! While they may not be ready to take on complete responsibility for household chores, your children might surprise you by their willingness to at least ‘help’. But, you’ll have to train them. The first course of action is to break down the job into bite-sized pieces. “Clean your room” is an overwhelming command when the room looks like an active junkyard. Make your bed, pick up the toys, put away books, pick up clothes, straighten dresser, dust and vacuum seem far less daunting. Small tasks are completed rather quickly and soon add up to that greater accomplishment – a clean room! Inch by inch it’s a cinch!

Communication gaps normally occurred in the command stage in our family. Somehow there was a great distinction between Mom Clean and Kid Clean. By listing each specific job (in the early days I did it by pictures), I eliminated a lot of confusion and frustration for me. Here’s the steps to Mom Clean in our house:
1. Clearly Define the Job.
2. Show them how to do it.
3. When the next cleaning day comes around let them help.
4. The third time, they do the job with supervision. I have to hold myself back on this one. This is the time for praise and not scrutiny. You don’t want discouragement at this level or you’ll create a dislike for the job, or the perception they can’t do anything right. Asking them questions like, “How do you think your room looks?” or “What do you think you could do to make your shelf look neater?” are far better than, “That looks awful!”
5. The fourth time is Independence Day! That’s when your child is left to do the work on their own. If you’ve agreed on what is an acceptable level of clean, junior will know when the job’s been done right. A word of caution, though, be sure to inspect what you expect. Kid Clean will be closer to Mom Clean if they know you’ll be back to check.

I used to have a chart system called Choreganizers that worked extremely well when my kids were small. Pictures of chores were used and hung on a name chart for a particular child. When that chore was done, they took the card and placed it in a pouch. Mom Money or Dad Dollars were given out for a job well done. The store was open at the end of the week for them to cash in or save for a larger prize the following week (prizes were small like a pencil, eraser, or new crayon and big prize was an ice cream cone or something like that.) When they had outgrown the chore chart, we went to a list of chores that needed to be done in each room. Some chores needed to be done daily and some weekly or monthly. Those were listed under their headings. That list was slipped into a vinyl sleeve protector and posted on the back of the door in that room with a dry erase marker mounted nearby. Each child was assigned a room for the week. They then checked off what they had done during our cleaning time, very similar to Zone Cleaning today. Now, with time constraints, busy schedules and busy teens, we do the 15 Minute Power Clean! That’s what my middle son came up with. We set the timer for 15 minutes and everyone runs to their assigned location and works like mad to get it all done. It’s amazing what we can accomplish in only 15 minutes! This is a great emergency plan and works well when surprise company is coming, an activity is moved in doors, or you’ve been busy and created a huge mess and it’s time to clean it up!

What if you have a child who doesn’t do it the way you do? That used to really irritate me and I viewed it as disobedience for a long time. But, really it’s okay …IF…they have learned it the way you’ve shown them, can do it that way and have met your acceptable standard. Allowing them the freedom to devise ways of doing the job more efficiently will keep their interest levels high and even initiate creativity. And that’s great inspiration for growth! You might even get an inventor out of the deal. Hmmmm, I wonder if some kid had an overwhelming job and that’s why the vacuum cleaner was invented?

Have a blessed day,

Lori

PS. You can still get Choreganizers and Zone Cleaning now has a Zone Cleaning for Kids Clean and Flip Chart that looks like a great way to motivate kids to clean. If you know of any other great options, let us know by leaving a post below. Thanks.