How to get your kids to clean and organize
September 21, 2008 by Jennifer Chait
Filed under Home & Living
Getting your kids in line with cleaning and organizing is not as hard as you might think. Here are some ideas…
Don’t be bossy: My son is naturally tidy (must be genetics) but it’s not all cake for me because he’s organized in a different way than I am. He’s a visual organizer, which I’ve discussed here before, meaning he’s tidy, but he likes to place stuff on top of shelving, on tables, in nice organized floor piles, and so on. I prefer items put in bins, or away in a file cabinet or closet. To me, part of decluttering means I don’t have to look at the mess. To my son, organizing means you place things nicely where you can see them. I’ve learned to live with this. If you and your child don’t see eye-to-eye regarding organizing tactics, you need to learn to live with it too. No two people are alike.
Never do a chore twice: If you ask your child to clean or organize something and you follow along behind him redoing the whole job, it’s insulting to your kid, and in the end what was the point of you asking him to do it in the first place? This is sort of like being bossy (see above) but now you’ve actually one-upped bossy and moved on to doing the chore for your child. No kid is going to want to help you out if you put down all their efforts by redoing the job.
Do it together: Doing chores together is way more fun than doing them alone. If you help your child to pick up his bedroom, it’ll get done faster, he won’t be overwhelmed, he’ll be happier to learn how to clean, and you can spend some time together. My son loves to chat while he helps fold laundry. Bonus, if you help your kids, hopefully they’ll help you with other cleaning. Respect goes back and fourth.
Work in kid sized chunks: Your idea of a good time may be to spend all day cleaning (wait – it’s not?) well, anyhow, your ability to stay focused on cleaning and organizing may be stronger than your child’s. Kids can focus, but asking them to spend hours at a time organizing is a little much. Break huge tasks (like entire bedrooms) down into bite sized chunks, over say, a week.
Don’t pay for cleaning and organizing: Unless your child has expressed a desire to become a professional organizer or a pro maid, don’t pay him to organize and clean. There’s nothing wrong with cleaning and organizing for a living, but as of yet, your kid is still just a kid. Cleaning and organizing isn’t his official job, it’s just what every house needs to run smoother. Paying for tasks that should be done anyway promotes arbitrary thinking. What’s your kid going to think when he grows up and no one is paying him to clean – he’s going to think, “So what if my house is a mess, I don’t see a reward, so why clean?”
What do you do to get your child to help clean and organize?
[image via stock.xchng]
I have 10 kids & when the first 5 were really small I learned to incorporate chore training. I would spend 10 minutes a day with a child & train them to do a particular chore. I would stay with them until they were able to do it without me. Now that they are teens & I have 5 younger kids, the older ones are able to train the younger ones.
If we need to do a quick clean up, I set the timer & assign each one to a certain jurisdiction (section of a room) to clean. If we need to do a whole house over haul, I will write the jobs on pieces of paper & fold them up to go in a bucket. They draw them out. when they are done, they bring it to me to inspect what they cleaned. Who ever gets the most done, gets a prize.
We have weekly chores & daily chores & evening chores to keep the house somewhat tidy. But have to stop everynow & then & do a major clean, but doesn’t take so long if everyone does their part.