6 Ways to Get Your Kids To Help With Household Chores
Let’s be honest—getting your kids to clean can be as much of a chore as cleaning itself. In fact, you may wish you had your very own magic wand to instantly get them excited about helping around the house! But, the good news is that with some savvy, creative tips, your kids will be eager to help you tackle a few cleaning tasks at home and may even develop a newfound sense of independence and responsibility while they’re at it! Here are 6 great and effective ways to teach your kids how to help with household chores.
Playing a game is one of the best ways to get your kids involved in doing household chores. Set up a few rules and offer rewards for completing assigned tasks. Whether you create your own game or borrow from a list of clean-up game ideas, it’s the perfect way to add a little playtime to clean-up time.
Bright Tip! Try singing the “clean up” song or maybe even make up your own song to really get your kids in the cleaning spirit!
2. Show & Tell
Another great way to teach your kids how to clean is to do household chores right alongside them. Choose which chore you’ll tackle first and then divvy up the tasks. For example, if you’re washing dishes, allow them to observe you first, and allow them to either rinse, dry, or put away each dish afterward. This not only teaches your kids how to properly clean the dishes but also empowers them to own a part of the task as well.
3. One Toy Out, One Toy Away
If your kids already have toys out, before they attempt to pull out more, create a rule where they must put one toy away first before pulling out a new one. This is an easy way to cut down on clutter and help keep your kids’ rooms and common areas cle
4. Incentives & Rewards
This one is similar to playing a game; however, it comes with a much bigger payoff! Place a cleaning calendar on the fridge or another common area in your home where it’s easily visible to everyone and assign specific chores each week. At the end of each week or month, if each task has been completed satisfactorily, reward your kids with an extra hour or two on their phones or tablets, a pizza and a movie night, or even let them choose!
Bright Tip! Dry-erase whiteboards or corkboards are inexpensive and perfect for assigning weekly chores. Many can be easily hung or placed on the walls of high-traffic areas in your home.
5. Buy Kid-Sized Cleaning Supplies
One of the best ways to get your kids excited about cleaning is to buy them their very own kid-sized cleaning supplies. There are several retailers who sell kid-sized brooms, mops, buckets, cleaning gloves, and more to empower your child to take on a variety of cleaning tasks.
Bright Tip! Equip your kids with a few sheets of Sparkle® Paper Towels to tackle simple tasks like sanitizing and wiping down commonly used surfaces, furniture, and more. This is something even your littlest helpers can take pride in doing all by themselves!
6. Make Organizing Fun
There are several ways to help teach your kids to be more organized, so why not make it fun? Choose decorative baskets, boxes, or bins, or even develop a color-coding system that correlates to the types of items that go into each container. For example, have them place all their crayons, colored pencils, and markers in yellow baskets, or all their stuffed animals, dolls, etc. in purple boxes.
Bright Tip! You can take this one a step further by labeling the containers to make it even easier for your child to know where to put away their toys to help keep your home neat. It also doubles as a great way to reinforce learning different colors, shapes, and words, too!