Train Your Children in the Way They Should Clean

Written by Michelle Medlock Adams

According to Janet Nelson, Public Relations Manager of The Maids Home Services, “Children should be able to pick up their toys and books starting at an early age, even as early as 18 months. If you start this early, don’t expect them to clean their rooms. Just make small suggestions and instill early on that they should pick up their toys once they are done playing with them.”

 Nelson believes you can start assigning regular cleaning duties when your children turn four. These should be small tasks: making the bed, picking up toys, cleaning off the dinner table, etc. “Too much too soon will turn them off from cleaning,” Nelson explains. Nelson guarantees success — if your approach is encouraging and fun.

Here are some approaches to try on your children.

Together Time
For small children, Nelson says, the most effective way to clean a room would be for you and your child to do it together. Give them several items to put away, and then you do the rest. Otherwise, it becomes an incredibly daunting task for children.

Practice Praise
Each time your child puts away a toy or picks up trash, take notice and commend the effort. As you practice praise, your children will be motivated to do more cleaning. 

Make It a Game
The following cleaning games are ones Nelson has developed over the years. “They’ve been tested and proven with my own two children,” she adds.

• Musical Chores (ages 2+): Designate a project — dusting, scrubbing the floor, picking up toys— to each child and start the music. Every time the music stops, the children switch chores.
  
• Puppet Dusters (ages 3+): Make sock puppets for dusting and start a contest to see whose puppet gets the dirtiest.
  
• Puppet Shiners (ages 2+): You and your child each wear a sock puppet to clean the patio door window. You’re on the outside and your child is on the inside. Make it a game to follow one another’s hand movement as you clean the window.
  
• Baseboard Race (ages 5+): Place two children at the end of two baseboards in the same room. The child who gets to the other end first wins a prize.
  
• Dash for Trash (ages 2+): Designate a laundry basket for each child. Start a timer for 30 seconds and see which child can put the most trash in his or her basket before the timer goes off.
  
• Hide and Seek (ages 4+): Hide five spoons in various spots (under cushions, on window sills, under pillows) and see if your children can find all of them by the time they finish cleaning.