Living in a small house with 5 people total and a dog, it is important to us to teach out children the life skills of cleaning and tidying up after themselves and the idea that all houses need basic maintenance to function well.
There are 3 things we currently do that work for multiple ages when cleaning the house.
Over the years I have done several things to get my kids involved in helping clean and tidy the house. We believe that this is a life skill and part of being a family team.
One is providing them with their own tools to feel that they are part of the project. My mom, Wyatt's grandma bought him his own vacuum, sweeper, and blower - so when we are cleaning, he runs and gets his tools to copy us.
Two, we turn on music, to encourage dancing. Which shows our kids that cleaning can be fun. If no music is available, we simply just start singing, "Clean up, clean up, everyone clean up", which gets them just as excited. No forceful tone. No tantrums. All volunteered help. It’s such a short blip in the day and allows for the rest of the day to play if we’re all working together.
Three, we tell it like it is. My oldest, will sometimes be walking and then trip over his toys. At this point, I tell him, if your toys were put away, you would not be tripping over them.
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