Teach Your Kids To Clean The House

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You’ve got to teach your kids to clean. There — I said it. Not everyone agrees, but it’s one of the primary goals at the Provost house. There is just no way a mom who has children, can keep the house clean all by herself without losing her mind.

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Kids make messes, there’s just no way around it. And, the more kids you have, the more messes you have. Even if you teach them all the little rules:

If you take it out, put it away
You are responsible for your own belongings
If you spill something, clean it up
And there are many more.

The thing is, people … especially little people, bring in a lot of dirt and dust, papers and bits of trash, shoes, jackets, snack packaging, etc. You know how it is … the list goes on and on.

A mom’s job is hard. Managing all our duties requires a lot and I don’t know any mom that isn’t busting her tail trying to do ALL … THE … THINGS … The fact is – we can’t do it all. There are times that many things rank higher than dusting, or sweeping, or vacuuming … so sometimes those things have to slide. But, that doesn’t mean they don’t still need to get done.

I save extra time now by ordering all my cleaning supplies from Grove Collaborative so they’ll come straight to my door with free shipping. They carry great natural products at great prices. Go check them out and get a FREE Gift Set.

So, I Teach My Kids to Clean the House – Actually, I MAKE My Kids Clean the House

Now, before you get all upset and start to think I’m lazy, or just a big meanie, let me tell you … there are many good reasons that kids should learn to clean the house. I’m going to lay out just a few of them below.

They’ll need to know how to clean their own homes someday. Remember, we’re raising people to be mature adults here not forever children. The day will come if we’ve done our job right, that they’ll be on their own and you and I know that keeping house is hard. If they don’t learn all the different tasks now they’ll really struggle in their own homes.
They have much more free time than I do. It’s true … I don’t spend my time during the day watching tv, playing on tablets, or chatting with friends. So, they don’t need to either. They can use some of their free time to contribute to the family.
To learn to appreciate me. I am not their maid or personal chef, I am their mother. It’s easy for kids to slip into an attitude of entitlement. Having me constantly serving them and cleaning up after them is a quick way to get there. Having them working hard to be a help changes their attitude to one of gratefulness.
So my boys will support their wives. I want my boys to know how to support their wives, instead of just assuming that the woman of the house will do all the household duties.
So my girls can take care of their husbands and kids. My girls need to know how to care for their homes, children, and husband. The burden typically falls on the mom of the home to manage the household duties and I want her to become a great manager. This is a good life skill.
To help them make career decisions. Having an understanding of physical labor and specifically, these home-keeping duties will help them in making future career decisions. Either they will be drawn to these kinds of jobs, or they’ll want to avoid them.
It helps build Confidence. Any skill that a child learns and repeats enough to get good at, will build their confidence. It teaches them that they can do hard things.
Pride in work well-done. When my kids work hard at cleaning a bathroom, living room, or kitchen they can stand back and see their accomplishment. They recognize how nice it looks, and how much better everyone feels in the space. This builds them up and teaches them to feel good about working hard.
It Will Make them better employees. Their future employers will appreciate their ability to take responsibility for their space, work hard, and see a job to the end.
It gives them an understanding of teamwork. The saying, “Many Hands Make Light Work”, can’t be taught any better way. When my kids see a whole list of jobs that need to be done, it looks huge. But, then, when they divide it up amongst all of them, they see that they can work together and get it done in a hurry.

When To Teach Your Kids To Clean The House

I’m a firm believer that kids can start learning to clean as soon as they can move on their own. It’s actually easier to train them if you start from the beginning. Push them to do as much as they are capable of doing. Odds are, they are capable of much more than you realize.

Babies can start putting their toys in a basket and their books on a shelf.
Toddlers can “wash” tables and dishes and can learn to sweep with a little brush and dustpan.
Grade Schoolers can work at the more difficult duties like vacuuming, bathrooms, putting away dishes, etc.
Tweens and Teens are capable of learning everything that an adult can do. They can do laundry, sweeping, mopping, window cleaning, pretty much everything.

Learn to let go of perfection when they are cleaning. Usually, 80% is good enough. In time they will get better and you won’t have to re-do their work. Just let them keep practicing.

These are just some of the reasons for my kids to clean the house. There are many, many more. I can tell you that when I first started making them do it there was some grumbling, and I put an end to that by letting them know there would be more work if it continued. They now do the house cleaning without any issues. Of course, they don’t love it, but they know there is no benefit in grumbling and it really doesn’t take long to get things done when they get right at it.

The best part … sometimes they initiate house cleaning on their own now. I never, ever, thought that could happen. Now they actually enjoy the space more when it’s tidy and they appreciate the difference.

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