Getting Kids to Help Clean

I can remember telling my mother in frustration, "You only had us kids so you could have servants!" Many years later, I sure am happy that I have some of those servants of my own! The servants are my children, of course. I don't really treat them like servants, but I do make them do plenty of chores around the house.

The main goal is to establish habits in the children, since the MAIN goal is to raise them to be, among other things, responsible adults. Routines help achieve that goal. If you train your child to brush her teeth before bed each evening, and if she hears you remind her to do that each evening of her first ten years of life, chances are that she will grow into an adult who habitually brushes her teeth before bed.

With that in mind, train the children to do chores around the house which will become habits to them. I like to call this list of chores a "routine". My children have a Morning Routine and an Evening Routine. Now that they know the rules, I only have to say, "Do your routine," and they are off to work.

The Morning Routine consists of getting these items done, in any order:

Eat breakfast.
Brush teeth.
Make bed.
Get dressed.
Pick up 2 floor areas (hallway, boys' room, girls' room, library, kitchen, or living room)
Clear your items off the breakfast table.

The Evening Routine consists of:

Bathe.
Get into pajamas.
Clear your items off the supper table.
Brush teeth.
Pick up 2 floor areas.

In the beginning, the routines had to be written down and posted on the refrigerator. The children now know them by heart. They are very quick at getting them done now. And because they are clearing all of the floors for me, I only have to pick up the surface areas, like the countertops and couches. Sometimes I'll sneak an item off the surface and place it on the floor, but don't let the kids know if you try that little trick!

I have noticed that routines have reduced the grumbles to none. Since a routine becomes a habit, the kids don't grumble about it at all. Rather, they probably don't know that life could be different.

You now know my little secret to house cleaning - my servants.