“It’s a mess all over! – Every night, before going to bed, I spend 30-40 minutes cleaning up the mess that my son creates. It is very frustrating sometimes. I am out of ideas for how to teach him to clean and tidy up his mess after playing”, says Anita, mother of a 3-year-old boy.
Kids tend to accumulate a lot of things around them when they are in a real mood to play with everything that they have got. A pile of storybooks, craft supplies and toys is a common sight and the room looks like a thrift store.
On one hand, as a mom of two young kids, the glance of scattered stuff makes me feel blessed that my kids are curious and imaginative; while on the other hand, the thought of keeping everything back and tidying up all over again takes my smile back.
The pandemic took away the freedom of outdoor play-time as kids didn’t have anywhere to go. Thus, more stuff at home and more scattering and more cluttering. A messy room can look like a war zone. It can be very frustrating too. So, how to teach your child to clean up their room?
When to start?
Cleaning and tidying the room on their own can be taught to children as early as at the age of 2. Research shows that kids who do cleaning and other house chores end up being successful adults and live as self-dependent individuals.
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5 Ways To Teach Your Kids To Clean Up From An Early Age
When my first child turned 1, I was told by many other parents that it’s important to teach kids to clean up from an early age. When we talk about toddlers, they seem to be interested in everything that is going on, they ask you questions and offer their hand. As a parent, you just need to harness these desires and direct them in the right way.
So, how to teach your kids to clean up from an early age?
1. Have organizers placed
The most convenient way to get stay away from clutter is to get the stuff sorted. Sorting is also a fine motor skill exercise that incorporates the use of small muscles like hands and fingers along with eyes.
It’s a good idea to use organizers for storing different things like one for craft supplies, the other for soft toys and so on. There’s a huge variety of storage boxes and organisers are available in the market. Pick the one that fits in your space.
With the help of organisers or proper storage, kids also develop recognition in terms of placement of their things like books & toys that they can find and keep themselves.
2. Make it more thrilling
Cleaning can be fun too. Make a chart, where you mention all the chores with pictures and tick box. They might end up ticking all the boxes in encouragement.
You can make it more exciting by keeping one or two treats hidden somewhere under their precious clutter. While organizing, they will be thrilled to find something new for themselves that will eventually help in timely and routine cleaning, as they look forward to some new excitement.
The approach is simple to make it more constructive instead of overbearing for them.
3. Monkey see, monkey do
Children learn more by observation. They tend to pick up things that they observe. They are learning from you every day, in and out. So be a good show.
Try to clean or tidy up or perform any task in front of them, which you want them to learn. Involve your kid in tasks, where you possibly can. You can ask them to help you in folding the laundry or can tell them to get the mop from the cabinet or request the kid to keep it back to its place for you.
Make sure the parameters are safe for them – height, weight and objects. They should not feel as if they are being tortured. Admire their efforts with gentle acknowledgement by saying thank you and please for their generous help.
A little involvement will help them in learning how to be more oriented.
4. Setting the rules
This might sound over the top. But setting some rules and boundaries beforehand takes away the pressure of reinforcing your instructions over and over again. It also helps kids in learning discipline and following the instructions which is a big part of their learning process.
Make cleaning and sorting a time-bound activity and not something that your kids drag along the day. The longer they take the more lethargic they become, the task will lose its importance and they will end up becoming cranky.
However, make your kids understand that cleaning a space doesn’t mean making a mess somewhere else, like picking things from the floor and then dumping them in the cupboard. So, set it straight that things need to be placed in a proper manner, at their designated place.
5. Admiring the efforts
Words leave a long-lasting impact. The way we express ourselves can accelerate our lives.
Use peaceful and encouraging words like, “you are really good, in doing this”, or “I appreciate your efforts” or reward with drawing star on their hand if they are little ones.
Also, it’s not always that you have to give materialistic rewards on completion of any task. They need to understand that it’s their home and it’s an equal responsibility for every family member to keep it clean and tidy.
Bottom Line
It might look a bit of a struggle in the beginning but efforts will be all worth it when you see them doing it themselves without much prodding. Soon, it will be part of their daily routine like a habit which they will end up doing themselves without getting to hear from you.
But, make sure to take it slow and be there, doing your task and overlooking them. End of the day, they are kids –and they will follow money see, monkey do theory.
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