Kids can be quite the mess makers! However, the sooner you introduce your children to household tasks, the easier it is to get them to clean up after their mess.
It was reported that 15 per cent of households with kids as young as six years old actually lend a helping hand around the household, so Helping – an online marketplace for home services – shared tips on how to teach your kid to clean up by themselves.
Let the child take responsibility and make decisions
For example, make the little ones point out, together with you, where the Teddy’s “house” is in their room, so they will be more likely to remember where it belongs and will then leave the stuffed animal in the right place as a bedtime ritual.
Give kids age-appropriate tasks
Toddlers can help to organise socks by sorting them out in colors and patterns, whereas older kids can be allocated more serious tasks such as making the bed every morning and keeping their desks in order.
As they get older, start to make decisions together; take your kids to your weekly grocery shopping and involve them in the decision-making process about what to buy and what to cook.
Clear instructions
"Please clean up”… Do they even work? Refine your request to: "Please place the books back into the shelf and put teddy to bed now." Your children must know exactly what to do. The more concrete your request, the more effective it will be!
Labelled boxes = a room in order!
Organisation begins with a neat and functional room. Allocate an area in your kid’s room to place boxes and store toys and name each corner – just like in kindergarten. For example, the left side of the room can be a cosy reading corner and the right, a play area. This will allow your children to know right away what belongs where with an easy association. Lastly, always make sure that the boxes are light enough for your kids to move around.
Cleaning up is not a skill, but a habit
Your six or seven-year-olds should already be familiar with the basic concepts of cleanliness: the jacket needs to be hung on the hook and lego bricks needs to be collected and stored in the storage bin. Did you know that wooden games with different shapes and colours can help little ones develop the concept of order? They’ll have fun in matching the patterns and colours, too.
Art museum
Incentivise the creativity of your children! Allocate an art corner to place your kid’s work, so they can feel proud of their art pieces. For example, your fridge can be transformed into an art display.
Rituals help
This tip is important for children and adults. For example, you can implement daily rules such as to place everything back before each meal. Monkey see, monkey do.
