Now You Can Keep Your House Clean And Have Happy Kids, Too!

I’m not quite sure if this article falls into the category of parenting or homeschooling. 

If we develop fun and open working-relationships with our children at young ages, our parenting and our homeschooling will benefit. 

Besides, how would we separate homeschooling from parenting in the first place? 

I love having my kids by my side!  I love laughing with them!  I love learning from them and with them!  I love their company!

With that said, my kids help me with nearly every chore I do.  Happily.  They really enjoy helping me – it is fun for them, not a drag.  Not everyday is picture-perfect but the majority of the time, we have fun doing things around the house together.  Most of the advice in this article has to do with the younger set – ages 2 to 5 or 6.  It seems this is a hard age to try to incorporate them in the chore time.  My 10-year-old does quite a few things that are not listed here in this article.

What Are The Benefits Of Having Children Help With Chores?

The way I see it, there are innumerable benefits to having your kids help out around the house, both for them and you.  It certainly is not a slave-driving operation.  We are teaching our kids to work together to get something done.  We are teaching them to do things even when you don’t really want to because its a skill they will need everyday of their lives.  We are teaching them to do things cheerfully because it makes the work go by so much quicker.

• Benefits for Them
  • If my daughter can happily help me with dinner at the age of 4, what’s to prevent her from happily helping at 14?  After all those years of working side by side, our relationship can only benefit.
  • They will learn to pitch in whenever any work needs to be done.  I listened to a pastor tell the story of a time when he and his wife were exhausted and decided to take the weekend off.  They stayed home, put up their feet and just rested.  They ate when they felt like it and the dishes piled up in the kitchen and other messes piled up around them.  Then, Ding-Dong!  The doorbell rang.  Another family with whom they were close friends was in town unexpectedly and stopped by for a visit!  While the adults chatted in the living room, the two daughters of the visiting family went right into the kitchen without being asked and began to get the kitchen in ship-shape order!
  • When they get out on their own, these life skills will come in very handy.  My children may get married and they may not.  I want my boys to be prepared to cook and clean for themselves and I want my girls to be prepared to raise a family.
  • They adopt a strong work ethic from early on.  I have heard from many many employers that it is harder these days to find people who are willing to work hard.  Even the easiest of jobs includes times where hard work is expected.
  • Children like to feel useful instead of in-the-way.  Our kids know when we sincerely value their contribution to the family and when we have to step over them in order to get something done.
  • Children love and need to be praised.  When they help you with something around the house, its just one more reason for you to lavish them with encouraging words.
• Benefits for You
  • It is always easier for me to do my chores when I have a friend by my side.  Most often, as we are working together, my daughter will say, “What song can we sing Mama?” and we have fun thinking up songs and singing them.
  • Get more work done.  Many hands make light work!  And, the older those helping hands get, the more of a help they are.
  • Enjoy a more peaceful household.  The kids are busy – which means they aren’t fighting or into something they shouldn’t be.  The house is clean.  Dad is happy because everyone is working together.

How Did We Get To The Place Where Chores Are Fun?

• Mom’s Attitude.  I learned very early on that my attitude greatly influences the attitudes of my children.  If someone is having an issue with their attitude on a given day, I tend to look at myself first to see how I might be contributing to the issue.  With that in mind, any time I train my children on a particular chore or when we get to the slot in our schedule for chore time, I make sure to convey a happy and upbeat attitude about the fun we’re about to have.  Sometimes, I have to push myself harder than others!
• Consistency.  If my children know that 3:30pm is always chore time, they rarely complain when I start to sing the “chore time” song.  (It’s different every time so I can’t post the words for you!  Just me being silly with my kids to help them get ready for chore time!)
• Working Side by Side.  It is so much for fun for me to do laundry while watching my daughter fold some, too.  The same works for them.  Everyone likes to know they aren’t alone and when we’re all in the bathroom cleaning, the job gets done quicker and everyone is happier while doing it.
• Start Young.  This point is absolutely key, above all the other points in this section.  Even if you fail at all the others, there is something about starting early.  Maybe its because they still look up to you and thing everything you do is so cool.  Maybe its just because they enjoy being near you.  I pull my babies into the kitchen with me from the time they are in the car seat to the high chair to the stool they can stand on themselves.  Even when they are so very young, I talk to them.  (Anyone who knows me personally is probably not very surprised by this!)  I tell them what I’m doing, I sing, I smile at them.  Now, they sometimes get upset at me if I start working on dinner without them!

What Kind Of Chores Can They Do?

Kitchen Cleaning

• Spray down cabinets with water or some kind of natural cleaner and wipe them.  My son loves to spray the water!  I have a few puddles on the floor when he’s done – but the look of satisfaction on his face when he has just helped Mama is absolutely priceless!
• Use a small kids broom to sweep here and there.  It won’t be perfect, but you’re just teaching them the idea.
• Wash the floor with their sock-covered feet.  (Get a bucket full of soapy water.  Let the kids step into the water with their socks on.  Then, they skate around the kitchen floor, having fun and getting it clean!  I move the table against the wall and the chairs into the living room and take away any other things in the area.)
• Dust window sills with a wet rag.  That goes for the whole house.
• Set the table.  I put out everything they need on the counter so that its reachable.  My youngest son (age 3) does breakfast, middle daughter (age 4) does lunch, and oldest son (age 10) does dinner.
• Helping.  They can assist you with just about everything that needs to be done in the kitchen.  From cleaning the refrigerator to reorganizing the pantry, there is always something they can take to the trash or something they can retrieve for you.

Cooking

• Set the microwave.  Depending on where your microwave is located, this may not work for you.  My daughter can reach it when standing on a stool.  When she was shorter, I just held her or supported her while she stood on the counter.
• Measuring.  A math lesson and a cooking lesson all in one.  I can’t remember the last time I measured something out by myself!
• Chopping.  Some things can be cut with butter knives.  It is also very good to teach children a healthy respect for things that might be dangerous.  My daughter and I have talked numerous times about sharp knives and the proper way to handle them.  She cuts potatoes for me with a regular knife – I never take my eye from her and she always using the proper method of safe cutting.
• Rinsing.  Any vegetables that need to be washed up before cutting or cooking get rinsed by one of the kids.
• Stir.  Even if I have already mixed the ingredients together, my children get a turn stirring!
• Stove/Oven.  I haven’t allowed my younger ones to work on the stove with me yet because they aren’t quite as coordinated as they need to be.  They watch and learn though.  We talk about safety when working with hot stuff and how the oven works, etc.  I am confident that by the time they are ready to work on the stove, they will be very safe and careful.  If my oldest son had peacock feathers, they would definitely be on show after he cooks something!!  He just loves it!  Pancakes, grilled cheese, hard-boiled eggs and noodles are just a few of the things he has tackled.  I wouldn’t be surprised if he turned out to be a chef due to how much he enjoys it.

Around the House

• Vacuum the couch.  My vacuum is almost too heavy for me to push around so they can’t partake in that chore any more.  (When we had a lighter one, one of their favorite things to do was vacuum.)  But, we have a hose and attachments!  They really enjoy using the hose to vacuum out the couch.
• Windows.  They won’t be streak-free and you might have to re-do it when they aren’t looking.
• Dust.  I loved to watch my daughter recently as she carefully dusted my favorite lamp and pictures on a small table in our living room.  I had explained to her how important these things were to me and how easily they could be broken.  I can hardly explain how she gingerly and slowly swept her hand across the lamp as if it were a newborn!
• General cleanup.  We make a race out of it!  I tell them each what to pick up and where it belongs.  When I say “go”, they run to put it away and run back for the next thing.  Great for gym class when its raining outside!
• Laundry.  My kids love to help me load the washer, put the soap in, move it from the washer to the dryer, etc.  I’ve taught them how to separate the clothes into the right piles, how to operate the washer and dryer and how to fold.  They can’t do all those things by themselves but the learning has been a blast.
• Making the bed.  Once they get in the habit of this chore, it will be second nature and they’ll jut get better over time.
• Stripping the beds.  This is fun for them and frees you to tend to something else for a few minutes.

As you can see, there are quite a number of things your preschooler can help with around the house.  Including them in this vital part of running a household will only benefit them as they grow and learn.

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Tagged as: chores, homeschool, how to get kids to help with chores