Are you having the most challenging time getting your children to help clean? They probably don’t like it for the same reasons you may not like it. It’s boring. But someone has to do it, right? You may make it more enjoyable by listening to your favorite music or your favorite podcast as you clean. So why don’t you try to incorporate some fun tactics to help your children have fun while cleaning? This will certainly take the stress off you, especially if you have to clean quickly to get your house ready to sell fast this spring. Check out these cool, interactive ways to get your children involved with spring cleaning.
Incorporate Singing and Dancing
Remember the “Baby Shark” craze. Its popularity may have dwindled in recent years, but it still is one of the most popular songs on Youtube, having reached 10 billion views! There’s no time like the present to bring it back, at least while you clean with your children. Something about singing and dancing goes quite well with cleaning your home. As an adult, you may know this from rocking out to some of your favorite oldies while you clean. If you want to get your young children or your teens involved in cleaning up, try to play some of their favorite music. It will help make the cleaning process easy and fun.
Make a Game
There is something about games that make things more entertaining. So why not turn your spring cleaning into a game for your children. For smaller children, games that allow them to put their number and alphabet skills to good use will be pretty fun. However, for older children, you may have to think of out-of-the-box ways to get them to join in on the fun. For example, cash, snacks, television time, or an extra hour past curfew are incentives that seem always to do the trick with older children. Therefore, encouraging them to get tasks done within a specific time frame for the incentive could give them the motivation to help clean.
Help Them Learn While Cleaning
While this may not be as popular with older children, younger children will undoubtedly love the challenge of learning while they clean. For example, if you have things that need organizing, challenge them to alphabetize the items. Or, if you need to sort clothes, encourage them to sort the clothing by color. If you need to get rid of old items in the pantry, challenge them to look at the dates and determine if the items are still good.
Reward Great Work
While you don’t want to get into the habit of paying your children to get things done, when you are doing a major cleaning project, rewards can help. This is especially critical if you plan to sell your home and move into a new house soon. Develop a system of rewards that will help them work quickly toward their cleaning goals. These rewards can include movie night, a favorite treat, or a new toy. To encourage their help with ongoing cleaning activities, you may want to develop a point system. Once they reach a certain amount of points, they can have their prize.
Cleaning isn’t the most fun task for anyone, whether they are adults or children. But you can always bring in the fun to make the time go by faster and get plenty of work done.
