How to Set Up a Cleaning Routine With Kids
Parenting takes a toll on your mind and body, especially when you have to look after your home and your family side by side. In these circumstances, setting up a regular cleaning routine while your kids continue to make a mess can become more work than you imagined. But, with a few ideas at your fingertips, it doesn't have to be a task that overburdens you.
Getting Help from the Kids
Start your cleaning routine with your kids in the morning. An organized early morning routine can help elevate your mood throughout the day. The sense of achievement at having done something provides extra motivation. Making this a habit from the start will significantly help your kids, and there are numerous chores your kids can enjoy. To make it easier and manageable for them, buy zip-up sheets or a zip-up comforter. Reward them with small treats if they find it difficult to be motivated enough to do this chore. Some parents find making the bed mandatory for breakfast quite effective. If the kids are younger than 2, make them see you make your bed and ask them to assist you in small ways. If they are about 4 years of age, help them in small ways if they find it hard, but make them do the majority of the work. If they are older than that and find it easy and manageable, ask them to do their beds themselves as soon as they wake up. Another way your kids can help you out is by asking them to clean up after playtime. After your kids have had their playtime, don't let the room stay cluttered. They can play with their toys for as long as they want or are allowed. But, once they finish, they need to clean up. Assist them in doing this in the start, and slowly make them switch to cleaning the mess and organizing their toys back in their place themselves.
Schedule your Cleaning
Cleaning itself is such a hassle when you don't have a proper schedule, let alone when you’re parenting as well. Organizing and making a comfortable, relaxed schedule means half your work is done and dusted. Managing a couple of cleaning tasks a day is less hectic than having to do a whole mountain of work together. The best way to make a schedule and ensure you follow it is by writing it down on a piece of paper. You might forget the task you were to do with all the hustle and bustle, and it's more manageable. You can even cross out the tasks as you complete them for a boost of motivation.
Decluttering
If you have a cluttering spot somewhere in your house, it will become an object magnet. Someone will put another object there because what harm can another toy or shoe pair do? Then someone will put another, and then another. This will keep going on until the pile becomes too large. Declutter your house once, so everything belongs in its space. This way, you don't have to organize a cluttered area every once in a while. If there are plenty of cluttered spots existing in your home, take it one step at a time. For instance, declutter your kitchen on the weekend before you move to the bedrooms in the upcoming week.
A Place for Everything
If everything has a designated place, you won't need to declutter the house that regularly. Keep a box for the kids' toys. Put a bin for trash, junk, and litter. Once you've set a place for everything, make everyone in the house follow it, from your spouse down to your kids. All things are to be put back in their place after being used.
Baby Carrier
If you have an infant, and they are of that age where you can't put them down, you can't go around cleaning the house without a baby carrier. Even if you can, managing with a baby carrier is way too easy as you can also look after the baby while getting your chores done.
Use a Plastic Cloth
If you're the sort of parent that encourages their kids to do different creative activities like painting, gluing, and drawing, spread a plastic cloth and make the kids do all the stuff on that cloth. This way, the floor or carpet won't get dirty, and clearing up the mess will be easier.
