Do you enjoy cleaning? Chances are that you don’t. It can be pretty boring and repetitive and the hard work you’ve done can be undone in hours.
However, cleaning is important, not only because a clean house is nice to see, but also because it is a healthier place to live.
If you don’t have the time to clean your home thoroughly, perhaps you could use some help. Your kids could be that help. After all, they also live there and are probably responsible for a sizable chunk of that mess.
Cleaning professionals at Castle Keepers Charleston share some ways you can include your kids in house cleaning.
The best way to include your kids in cleaning is to start doing that when they are young. Make it a kind of a game where they can help you take out the trash or mop the kitchen floor.
Naturally, you should be careful not to give them tasks which may be too complicated or dangerous for them to do.
That means your kids shouldn’t be around chemicals like house cleaning products without supervision.
However, if you are able to instill some good habits in them when they are young, it will be much easier to include them in more demanding cleaning tasks when they are older.
For older children, having them clean their room is a great way to ease the burden of cleaning on yourself and give them some real and tangible responsibilities.
Depending on the age of your child, their tasks can be as simple as clearing away their toys and making the bed to the more advanced things like dusting and vacuuming their rooms.
If they need more incentive than just having a clean room, as many kids do, you can offer them some rewards in the form of money or something else they really want.
You can’t expect your kids to have good cleaning habits if you don’t have them. If they don’t see you doing some tasks, they can hardly be expected to do them on their own.
One great cleaning chore which the whole family can take turns doing is taking out the trash. Even though it is simple and seemingly irrelevant, just having a steady rotating schedule for who takes the trash out can have a great impact on your kids’ habits.
The alternative to the rotating schedule of chores, you can have your kids pick chores they want to do and make them in charge of that chore. If they prefer doing the dishes to vacuuming the living room, let them have that task, whereas you can cover the other ones.
Naturally, you need to be a part of this system, so that it doesn’t seem like a punishment to them, but rather as a normal thing.
If you really want to have some fun and have your kids not only involved but also motivated for cleaning, you can come up with a point system.
Each chore can be worth a certain amount of points. If you do the chore, you are awarded a point. These points can be exchanged for different concessions.
If they want to pick the restaurant where the family is going to have dinner – that’s going to cost a certain amount of points. Want to go to a sleepover? It has a fixed amount of points.
Having help while cleaning can free up more of your time to actually spend with your family. So whether you decide to include them in cleaning, or you hire professional cleaners to help you, remember that cleaning can be easier than it is.