You’re exhausted from slaving away for eight hours in the office. Why do even more work as soon as you get home? As a working mom, you’ve already got enough on your plate. It’s time for your kids to grow up, but getting them to clean up their own mess is the tricky part. So where do you start?
Try these ideas to transform your children into more responsible little humans.
Music Makes Everything More Fun
Have you ever finished cooking a delicious meal and found yourself panicking at the sight of the mountain of dishes in the sink? Yeah, nobody really enjoys cleaning. But what if cleaning means a dance party? Try bumping an upbeat tune on the radio to get your children hyped up about putting on their rubber gloves and getting down and dirty with the decontamination. Encourage your kids to put rhythm into their motions of scrubbing or carrying things around as if they were pulling off some of the coolest dance moves in town.
Play a Game
An easy way to get younger kids to help with cleanup is to turn the dreaded event into a game that’s fun for them. There are many ways to do this. You could have your little ones play a game of “follow the leader” where they would imitate your every move. You could start off by putting one wooden block into its bin, then have Kid A put the next block away. Kid B would follow suit. You get the gist of it.
If there are colored building blocks, for example, ask the kids to pick all of the blue ones and put them away first. Next, have them grab the green ones, and then the yellow ones. Some parents like to turn clean-up into a race where the winner gets a small prize. Use your creativity as there are near endless possibilities here.
“Where Does This Live?”
Get your kids into the habit of putting things in their place by creating dedicated storage areas for them. This mindset should apply to toys, snacks, clothes, and just about everything else. You can group like items together in plastic bins, or organize however you prefer, as long as each container is clearly labeled so that the kids know exactly what goes in it.
Chocolate pudding lives in the fridge, not the living room carpet. Dust and lint live in the vacuum, not the bed covers. Once your children understand how it all works, it should be smooth sailing from there. But not always.
According to Custom BedBug, many common pest control sprays won’t eliminate bed bugs that have developed a resistance to certain chemicals. If your kids are doing their part and bed bugs still live in your Idaho home, contact Boise bed bug services to schedule a consultation. The company offers various solutions including heat treatment, canine inspections, and spray services.
Set Clear Expectations
If you want the little troublemakers to learn how to clean, you’ve got to let them know what you expect from them first. One idea is to write up a schedule of tasks and include descriptions of how to accomplish each of them. The more detail you provide, the less likely that your kids will miss an important step. Hang this list on the refrigerator door. Reinforce written rules verbally and regularly so that they can memorize what their individual responsibilities are.
Caring for your children can be a full-time job on top of your full-time job. Don’t make it harder than it has to be. Your kids can learn to properly clean up after themselves with a little bit of training and a lot of repetition.
