Cleaning with children
I have a 2 1/2 year old and do medical transcription from home while she is napping and after she goes to bed/before she wakes up. Therefore, my cleaning/homekeeping must be done while she is awake. Her attention span is not very long and I don't like to use TV too much to occupy her while I'm working. She will help me for a short while but quickly becomes antsy. :) Please share any ideas that have worked for you. -AnonymousGreat question and one that we can probably all learn from each other on. Before I open up the floor for responses, I'll just share some of my own thoughts and what has worked for us in our current situation.
First off, as much as you can, involve your daughter and have her help you. Even if it's only for 10-15 minutes, that's a great start in instilling a strong work ethic and diligence in her. Make it very exciting for her to help, interact with her, give her little things she can do to help, and have fun. She may find that she actually really likes helping.
Kathrynne has a short attention span most of the time as well (I'm guessing most all 2-year-olds do!), so I have found that it's my job to keep her occupied and having fun while we work together. Yes, it takes me longer to get work done and yes, there are more interruptions, but I try to focus on the quality time I'm investing in Kathrynne, not so much in checking things off my to-do list.
Some things which have helped us:
-Giving her a child-size broom and a just-her-size apron so that she can work alongside mommy. I almost always wear an apron when cleaning and cooking, so Kathrynne has very much enjoyed having her own apron to wear. I often put my apron on and put her apron on and then excitedly tell her it is "time to help clean (or cook)!"-Giving her very tiny chores she can accomplish on her own and then praising her and being excited with her when she accomplishes them. Little things like having her put away all the Legos into the tub, or to wipe down the outside of two cupboards, or to clean a small area of the floor, or to fold up a few wash cloths. I keep it very simple and easy and only ask her to do one thing at a time.
To read more about how I involve her in my day and teach and train her as we go along, check out this post.
One thing which has helped me tremendously in having Kathrynne work with me is to only use non-toxic, organic cleaners. One of my most very favorite cleaners is Basic H. You can read my review on it here. It is extremely versatile and so inexpensive as one $12 bottle makes 48 gallons. I let Kathrynne spray and clean with this all she wants. Just give her a rag and a spray bottle and a small area to clean, and let her have at it!
By the way, for anyone who is interested in trying out Basic H, but you'd like to try it before you buy it, a friend of mine has offered to give away samples of it to anyone interested. The sample pack makes a full bottle of all-purpose cleaner and a full bottle of glass cleaner. I highly recommend this - especially if you want to avoid all the nasty chemicals in most cleaners. In addition, you never have to worry about your children getting into the cleaner and hurting themselves with it. If you want to try out some Basic H, just email me your address and I'll pass it along to my friend.
I highly recommend that you have a simple cleaning plan and a time set aside in the day to accomplish it. This doesn't have to be anything elaborate, but I've found that having a plan really helps me be more efficient. I know what I need to do that day and I know that when I've finished it, I'm done. Depending upon how large your home is and how thorough you are with cleaning, you very likely can accomplish most of your basic household cleaning jobs in 30 minutes a day. By breaking up the cleaning into 30 minute segments and just doing the assigned daily tasks that day during the time slot and then you're done, it seems a lot more manageable. And if you keep on top of it, it will never get very out of hand!
I like to break tasks down into daily jobs, weekly jobs, and monthly jobs.
Daily Jobs: I try to keep up with dishes, laundry, and general clean up everyday. I don't include these things in my 30 minute cleaning slot as they get done throughout the day in little snippets of time.
Weekly Jobs: Things like vacuuming, mopping, and cleaning bathrooms - I these do once or twice a week. I have assigned a few weekly jobs to each day of the week and work on these first during my 30 minute cleaning time.
Monthly Jobs: After my weekly cleaning jobs are done for the day, I then try to do one monthly job (I have a list of these that I choose from and check things off as I do them) in the remaining last few minutes of cleaning time. Monthly jobs are things like wiping down the walls or baseboards in a room, sweeping the garage out, disinfecting the door knobs, etc. Sometimes it takes more than a month to get through the list and that is perfectly fine - the world won't collapse if these things aren't done every 30 days. It's just good to know that they are getting done periodically!
If your daughter's attention span is waning after 10 or 15 minutes of helping you, I would recommend you give her something quiet and mess-free to work on nearby while you finish up the rest of your cleaning. As I mentioned in this post, I think it is important for your children to have some quiet time during the day and to be able to occupy themselves for short periods of time without burning down the house in the process!
Maybe your daughter can sit at the kitchen table and color, or perhaps she could sit on the sofa with a few books? This could be a time when you pull out a special toy that she only gets to play with during this time of the day. Another thing which has worked well for us is to put Kathrynne in her play yard with some books, or toys, or wooden puzzles. I also will sometimes sit her in there for a short while with a video - most likely one of the homemade videos my mom made for her teaching her her letters, numbers, etc. This might be something you could record for your daughter, as well, but I'm completely with you in that I try to use videos sparingly (once a day for a short period at most) since even if it something very wholesome, I don't want it to become a "babysitter" for my child.
Those are just a few things which have worked for us. I'd love to hear from everyone else on what works for them.
Related:
-Mrs. Wilt has a great post here on cleaning with children.
-I did a post awhile back on a similar subject, but this would be more applicable to those with children more in the baby stage.
-Tammy has done a very helpful and practical podcast on cooking with children.
posted by Crystal Paine at 5:00 PM
10 Comments:
This was an extremely helpful post. Thank You and I pray you are doing well.
Thank you for your detailed update. It helped so much to hear how hard you tried to get your iron sources naturally. That had been a struggle with my last pregnancy (second) and I am still having a hard time getting prenatals into my body. I have a hard time swallowing pills and have tried all the mashing techniques imaginable. I am continuing to pray for your birth.
I also loved this post. We like using natural ingredients and buy natural cleaners or use baking soda and add our own essential oils to things. I have only heard of Basic H once and through Kent Hovind's dvds. It didn't occur to me that it was something safe for kids. Thank you for this great tip and I look forward to trying it out with our daughters. They love helping mommy cook and clean!
In His love,
Franicia
Another great all-purpose type cleaner is mixing 50/50 peroxide and water.
Thanks, Angel, however I don't think peroxide is nontoxic, so I wouldn't give it - even watered down - to my child to help clean with. I just try to be safe rather than sorry! :) We've pretty much rid out home of any cleaner that isn't nontoxic - I have a couple of really strong cleaners I keep on a high shelf for every once in a blue moon if it's a really deep clean job, but I've found that if I stay on top of the cleaning - it usually never comes to that and the nontoxic cleaners work great.
Crystal,
First of all, I'm glad you're feeling well enough to post something so elaborate :)
Second, you make it sound like so much fun that I can't wait to become a mother and clean with my children!
I wonder if the strategy is different with boys.
Anna, our boys have been exposed to cooking and dishes and toilet cleaning and laundry and grocery shopping, etc. in addition to "manly" responsibilities. There is no reason for them not to be able to help their mother now or their future wives if need be(for example, when I recently had surgery, there was little concern with things on the homefront ~ believe you me neither are effeminate as a result nor is it a matter of feminism and role reversal). With similar thinking, it doesn't hurt for young ladies to learn a little about mowers and cars and hammers and saws. :-)
Crystal, thank you for the continued encouragement regarding cleaning with our children...
Monday, is our major cleaning day around the Prescott home and our 4 year old Savannah, is involved in most every detail. She even uses our small handheld vacuum to vacuum our laundry room. She has her own (safe!) cleaning supplies for she and her baby sister’s bathroom and is pretty good at tackling everything but the mirrors.
I find it's a bit harder with a 14 month old, but I tend to hold her while I'm vacuuming, help her pick up toys, and we make a game out of most every cleaning job she's awake for.
I really believe that if more mothers were given advice like yours, they would learn it does take a bit longer to clean, but little ones can be much more helpful than you would first think. And, they learn much faster than we sometimes think too! It's so wonderful for them to learn responsibility, that work can be fun, and that our houses are their homes too.
This is a great post--thank you! I just e-mailed you regarding the Basic H cleaner.
I just discovered your blog from your WFMW post! My two-year-old loves helping with chores. I see lots of great ideas in your blog, so I'll be back. :-)
Very detailed-thank you. Once Princess is home from school in a week I want to start invovlving her more on a daily basis (I already have Buddy help with small jobs during the day) You've given me some more ideas on how to incorporate things. . .
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