BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Cleaning Do your kids clean?

I just finished a new article on kids and cleaning. Do your kids clean? If so, how old are they and what do they do?

Our 5yo:

* Makes his bed
* Gets dressed (for the most--it's usually a battle )
* Puts his dirty clothes in the hamper
* Dumps dirty clothes down the back stairwell (which empties out at the laundry room)
* Sets the table
* Feeds the dogs (sometimes without even being told!)
* Cleans his bedroom floor
* For toys that have a standard and consistent storage space, he puts them away
* Collects his library books and puts them in the red "To the Library" bin

Hmmmm... he's doing way more than I realized!
Here's the article!

Hi, Heather. You have an amazing site. I'm such a neat freak, I'm quite surprised I haven't checked in way before now. Anyway, your article is really inspiring for me because I,too, am an at home mom and I do almost everything. Hardly anything I save for the children to do, except a few things and nothing for hubbie to do because he's the bread winner. But after reading your article, I won't feel bad about adding some more for the loving bratz I have, to do around their rent-free surroundings.

Don't get me wrong, I love my children, but bratz they will turn out to be if I don't change a few things.....starting today. Again, thanks. Stop by and let me reciprocate with a few tips on making your spring garden come alive with bulbs. Happy harvest.

You're absolutely right--it's about self-sufficiency and responsibility. I felt guilty about even making dh do anything for a while, too. I felt like he had his work and I had mine; but I let that go too far and it was to the point where he didn't even take his dinner dish from the table! That was it...

I'm glad you found it inspiring! And hey--if necessary, implement the "I'm bored" jar (especially if you have pre-teens). I do NOT want to hear "I'm bored". If I hear it, then I have to fix it. My fix is to send you to the "I'm bored" jar which is FILLED with things for you to do. Of course, those things are generally cleaning, etc. Chores. SMALL chores, but chores none-the-less. Takes MAYBE three times before they start using their brain and their initiative to find things to do to occupy themselves!

I love bulbs. Love, love, LOVE them. I have four catalogs full of them and get sucked into buying more! I'm going to your site to find an article on keeping them overwinter and how long I can keep them in perlite, etc. Storing them, essentially.

Good idea. I'll incorporate (boredom jar) for the holidays and summer time too. Also, way to go with new innovative ideas for us working moms. As far as the bulbs, you'll find plenty there to look into. Stop in and let us know what you'll be planting. Enjoy and have a good weekend.

My kids are
11
14
14
and 16
(also a 19 year old but she currently isn't living with us)

All our kids do their own laundry. They have to wash, dry and put it away.

We have the main living areas of the house divided up and each child is responsible for an area/room. We rotate them weekly, unless a child decides to not do his/her chore correct (usually the kitchen chore), in which case they get to keep doing it until they learn to do it right.

In general they are responsible for taking trash out, sweeping floors, cleaning bathrooms (scrub toilets, clean off sink and mirror, sweep floor), pick up misc items in the room they are in charge of (which is mostly their stuff anyway), clean off dining table/set dining table.

All of the chores are chores they are capable of doing and since they make the majority of the messes in the general living areas of the house, I don't see why they shouldn't be the one's to clean it. Ideally if they kept the areas picked up, then when I want to come in and mop, dust, etc. I can do that without spending an hour picking up junk.

Our kids also have an interest in cooking, so they are involved in the meal planning to a degree, as well as help to cook meals (supervised).

The main area of weakness they all have is putting stuff away where it goes. Things get moved from room to room instead of put where it goes, or things get shoved in a drawer (never to be found again!!) or thrown on the pantry floor instead of stacked on a shelf where it goes.

Another area of weakness is not making sure dishes that are washed in dishwasher are actually clean before they put them away, or not rinsing them well enough before they go in the dishwasher so it gets food in the bottom of it (gross!) I also have a rule that none of the heavy metal skillets, pots/pans, or large plastic colanders go in the dishwasher and yet I continue to find them taking up vast amounts of space in the dishwasher.

Michelle--sounds like you've got it down. Are the kids responsible for their rooms PLUS another area of the house? It sounds like at their ages, this is totally do-able.

When I find stuff in the wrong place I hide it and say that it wasn't where it belonged so I threw it out and whomever misplaced it now has to give up something of theirs to replace it. In a couple of weeks (or if it's a little one with barely a memory--a couple of days) the other items turns up. The original culprit gets their object back, but they learned the lesson. Another thing that happens maybe 3-4 times before they "get" it.

I have no tricks for the dishes.

I agree. Michelle, you have it down packed girl. I'm taking notes as I read. I don't know why I'm such a woos (is that how you spell that?). Anyway, my mother always had us doing something responsible towards the household so, at times, once I get upset about everything everywhere, I start dishing out chores, but then I ease up in a couple of days. So thanks for the incentive both of you. Keep up the good work, moms.

"Another area of weakness is not making sure dishes that are washed in dishwasher are actually clean before they put them away, or not rinsing them well enough before they go in the dishwasher so it gets food in the bottom of it (gross!)."

We have a funny story related to this. When we purchased our first dishwasher, my son was 5. Neither he nor Daddy had ever really been around one. I left them to handle dinner dishes one evening, explaining that things must be rinsed before putting them in the dishwasher.

They're very creative people, my 2 guys. And we had a 6 month old lab pup at the time...

Need I say more?

hahahaha Good one Lynne.

LOL! My younger dog, Brody, definitely tries to contribute to cleaning the dishes as they're loaded.

My kids are both girls ages 5 and 2 yrs.old so definitely they're not still in the stage where they can manage to do things on their own but as a part of their early training I try to ask them to do small things like wiping our kitchen table and those little things that they can do. I notice that they feel good each time that they now they are contributing something.

When they were little, my kids used to help me clean before gatherings at our home. I guess they were about 6 or 7 when they started. They did small jobs like dusting. As they got older, they took on more complicated stuff like mopping. It was always when we were going to have company, and I was tied up in the kitchen. They're grown now and always lend a hand if they're here when we're getting ready to entertain.

Interestingly, growing up, one was a neat freak in her own room, the other was not. Now they have their own homes, and both homes are nicely kept.

Aloha,

I have 2 girls 7 & 4 1/2 and they are great helpers, when they are focused - lol. Both of them share a room at the moment, so they each have to keep their side of the room clean. Each night they take turns at helping mommy set the table and clean the table. They attempt to put their own clothes away but the little one is easily distracted, so no worries there. They love to cook and bake so getting them in the kitchen to help me out there is quite simple. My oldest loves to fold clothes (god bless her) and she is eager to help when laundry is ready. I try to show them how things are done, but if they aren't interested that day then that is okay too. I don't want them to have to worry about chores or doing certain "big people" things. I want them to stay as young as they are for as long as they can. Besides, there will be plenty of time for them to master the "Art of Keeping House" when they are a little older and able to handle more responsibilities. You are only young once so I prefer to let them be kids.

Mahalo