Surviving House Work With Toddlers and Children
When talking house work, remember, children will always remember the time you spend with them for the rest of their lives but won’t remember the dust on the shelf or the dirt in the corner of the floor. With that said, there are certain things that we each like to keep done concerning that dreaded word …housework. But often just do not know how to do them with small children demanding our constant attention. So here are some tips to help you get them done when you have toddlers or small children.
**Pick a Day!! Pick a certain day of the week that will be fun chore day! Wake up and share with the children that today is FUN chore day! They will soon be excited about what FUN chore day means for them. If you make something FUN…children will have FUN doing it and so will you believe it or not. You won’t feel like the kids are in the way while you clean. They will become a part of the process. As a parent it’s also your job to teach them and help them to grow into the healthy mature person God meant for them to be…so by getting them involved in part of the process…you’ll be giving them lifetime lessons that will make chore day fun for them and their future generations of children. Remember it’s not work when it’s FUN so turn up the music and make memories that last a lifetime in the name of housework.
**Sweeping and Mopping the Kitchen Floor: Take all the kitchen chairs into the living room, placing them in a large circle and then throw a sheet over the top and voila! A tent even the toddlers will enjoy! Encourage the children to bring toys into their new mansion. They will be happily playing while you now have plenty of space to sweep and mop!
**Dusting: Let those little ones be your little helpers! Children love to be involved and to feel like they are doing something worthy of praise. Hand those little ones their very own little dust rag. Pick lower shelves, coffee or end tables in which to put those little ones in charge of! Mom uses a spray can to dust then give those little ones an empty spray water bottle to pretend with. Shelves and coffee or end tables not enough for those hard little workers, then usher them into dusting the baseboards around the room!!
**Dishes and Laundry: Children “BY” age 7 can also help do dishes sufficiently as well as their own laundry. Hey mom!! They can work all those knobs, buttons and controls on a remote and their games that go with the TV or Nintendo DS so they can certainly work two knobs on a washing machine and one on a dryer. Give them credit for how smart they really truly are!!
**Making the beds: Kids love to help make the beds. The bed may not be quite as perfect as you could do it alone but think of what the experience is doing for them!!
**Kids love to help wash the car and do yard work. Get them involved and make it a family chore to do together making lasting memories while you work!!
** Other tips from other providers…
Let kids help with floors with a swifter mop of their own.
Let kids use their play vacuum sweeper while you use the big one and have races.
Gate off the kitchen or room you’re working in and work away!!