If your kids moan and groan at the thought of having to help clean the house, especially if it involves a marathon spring cleaning session, then why not check out the following tips for getting the little ones actively involved and how to make it more fun for them:
- On a mission!
Why not try encouraging the kids to complete certain aspects of cleaning/tidying up within a timeframe, so that they can treat it like a competition. You can even get involved yourself, and race them to finish certain jobs as quickly as they can. For this to be successful, you may need to add the incentive of a prize if they can do it quickly (and effectively) enough. Provided the task you set aren’t too challenging and the rewards are satisfactory, you could have them doing this all day long!
- Role play
Kids love to pretend play, and so why not combine this with a little light cleaning and tidying away by getting them to dress up as maids or butlers? Encourage them to pretend that they’re cleaning up after some messy kids who live in a palace, or something like that! You could even get them to pretend that they’re filming a cleaning commercial in front of the cameras, and let their imaginations run riot!
- Cleaning caddy’s
Buy a small cleaning caddy for your kids and fill it with the mini tools that they will need to help you clean up around the house. A duster, a little brush and pan, and any other items that they can safely clean with, should help them to take ownership of their cleaning duties and they may even take pride in using it to keep their bedrooms clean and tidy, if nowhere else!
- Cleaning charts with performance related stars
Making a simple chart with cleaning duties for your kids to follow, can prove a real incentive for them, especially if they are rewarded with gold stars for performing the duties particularly well. If you have at least a couple of kids involved, this can work even better, as they will seize upon the opportunity to be competitive with one another. Of course, you may have to implement an incentive for reaching a certain amount of gold stars, with the addition of a small prize, but that could well be worth it if they grow to enjoy, and become accustomed to, helping out with the cleaning.
- Call in the professionals!
It may be the case that aside from your kids hating the prospect of helping you clean the home, when they do get actively involved, they do it begrudgingly and don’t perform any of the tasks to the right standard; some kids can even end up making your home look messier and dirtier! If this is the case for you, then it may be easier all round to call in a professional home cleaning company to get the tasks done quickly and effectively, while you entertain the little darlings!