Comments on: How I taught my kids to clean…so I could stop cleaning

By: Katherine Paddison

Katherine Paddison

Love these ideas. What are some examples of jobs you would pay for? My son wants to earn money but pretty much everything we have him do, he should do for free, since as adults you don’t get paid to do those things… Be are at a loss of what to pay him for. He’s 6.5, so he’s eager but not that capable yet. He’s just starting to really chores, like dishes, cleaning, and bringing in wood.

By: Jeff Campbell

Jeff Campbell

Such great tips here! My 2 older girls (middle school) are great in the kitchen helping, and are also excellent at helping watch our toddler. But getting them to clean anything is like trying to run through mud up to your knees!

I’m going to try a few of these techniques this week, especially the 12-minute quick clean following breakfast!

By: PearlCarpetCleaning

PearlCarpetCleaning

Thanks for the great post and insight. It is great to teach kids these fundamentals early on in life.

By: Danielle

Danielle

It took a lot of reading and convincing from my husband to understand how much my kids can do. And it took me not being able to do it for me to totally relinquesh. Not anywhere near perfect and sometimes drives me crazy but yes kids can be in charge of cleaning!

By: Mary Khan

Mary Khan

Love this post and your one on baking. I am looking forward using them with my son and eventually, my daughter. Just wondering if you have a printable (or post) on the cleaning portion of your binder?

By: Amy @ Paul's Carpet Cleaning Melbourne

Amy @ Paul's Carpet Cleaning Melbourne

You’re doing a great job by teaching your kids to clean! Many mothers just do all the job by themselves, and their children grow up incapable to take care of themselves. This way you are preparing them for the world outside and you’re making sure they will manage to take care of themselves when the time comes. I think that in a household everybody should be involved in the cleaning and maintenance!

By: Beth

Beth

Thanks for these ideas! My boys are 7 and 9. I love the idea of 12 minutes a day and that they get one job for a season. Instead of my kids arguing over who wipes the table and who sweeps the floor after meals, I will know assign each kid to a meal where they do both!! I think this will reduce the bickering!! I am not a homeschooler—I teach Montessori and my kids go to a Montessori school. I still get GREAT ideas from your blog!!

By: Jamie Martin

Jamie Martin

In reply to Bekki@a better way to homeschool. If there's a job I feel like maybe they aren't completely confident in yet, I'll tell them to come find me when they're done so I can "check their work." Then I'll just take a peek and have them do anything over again if necessary, but I do try to make sure to not have unrealistic expectations for them.

By: Jamie Martin

Jamie Martin

In reply to Bekki@a better way to homeschool. Yes, I have a chart with general ideas broken down by each area of the home that the kids work in. For us that is upstairs, downstairs, and kitchen/dining room. The kids don't really look at it, it's just for my reference when I assign jobs in the morning before our 12 minute cleaning begins. It's a loose structure that reminds me of what needs to be done, but flexible enough that I can change it around.

By: Katie Laws

Katie Laws

Oh I’m so happy to read this. This has been a very uncomfortable phase for us…but my kids are 6, 5 and 3. My husband has super high, and I usually think, unrealistic expectations for our kids, but he said they should do the work so they are! We usually have to do a once a month deep clean…basically a restart. That pile under the bed would overtake the room if we didn’t pull it all out and start over. But I keep looking forward to the day when they can just do their chores without me standing there saying, “there’s a shoe. Now get the pencil. Now get the bear, etc.” Oh my, it’s still very painful with my two youngest!