Need help with your Spring Cleaning? You don't have to do it alone. Your kids can join you too in cleaning up the clutter, dusting off furniture and tossing old worn- out stuff that you haven’t used up for ages.
Teaching kids to get involved with household chores prepare them for their responsibility in the future. According to Marty Rossman, a researcher and an Emeritus Associate Professor of Family Education, "Teaching kids at an early age to take part in the household tasks will enable them to develop sense of responsibility, competence self-reliance and self-worth."
So before you rack your brains in figuring out how to complete your Spring Cleaning adventure, here's how you will do it in 5 easy ways.
1.Make Spring Cleaning a Fun Activity:
Just like kite flying, swimming and other fun activities, spring cleaning should be considered as an enjoyable activity too. However, that depends on how you present the idea to your kids. If you want to make them join you, put a little excitement in your tone. Hype up spring cleaning activity few days before you do the actual work. And when you start, play some games as such sorting, classifying, counting, identifying colors and beginning sounds of words among others to make it real fun.
2.Give Special Rewards:
Helping you with gardening, cleaning the closet, or sorting broken toys could be quite a challenge for young kids. So to increase their motivation, give special incentives like stickers, ice cream, a trip to the park, arranged play dates with friends among others. You don't have to spend a lot of money for rewards. Remember that children love simple joys in life.
3.Use the Opportunity to Teach:
If you're encouraging your kids to learn how to do household chores, make use of this chance to teach values, learning concepts or basic ideas so learning would not only be confined in the four corners of the classroom. Share the goals and objectives of your spring cleaning task. Let them know that they are already growing so fast. And it's time for them to do what big boys and girls do.
4. If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It:
An old saying that means if everything is alright, then don't do something about it. With regard to the kids' spring cleaning exploration, this means the other way around. I'm sure you know that kids will never clean up the way adults do. It will always turn out that the finished job would be needing some polishing somehow- you know how kids are! However, if your child's completed job is far from your neatness standards, then leave it at that. It will add to your child’s self-confidence to see that you appreciate their efforts even if the job needs a lot of tweaking in the end. By recognizing his efforts, chances are, you'll get a help again from your children with your Spring Cleaning next year. But ofcourse, nobody stops you from fine tuning their finished job when they're away or asleep. Just don't make it too noticeable, they'll surely spot it.
5. Be Proud of Your Child:
Tell other moms and dads, your friends, family, relatives and colleagues at work what you turned your child into. Flaunt his small but meaningful accomplishments. When he hears you're proud of him, he develops his self-esteem and self- worth subsequently.
By getting your child involved with tasks like Spring Cleaning, you consequently, make your child become responsible, caring, competent and more matured for his age.
So what are you waiting for? Ask your child to help you now before he changes his mind.
Enjoy your Spring Cleaning!
-J.A.S.-
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