Providing a sanitary home environment for children is one of the prime responsibilities of parents. According to UNICEF kids, especially those under the age of 5, are particularly susceptible to infectious diseases like diarrhoea and pneumonia. Older kids have better immunity but are at higher risk of contracting non-communicable diseases and allergies.
Therefore, it isn’t surprising that 10% of Australian kids under 14 years have asthma, and 43% of children have one long-term chronic condition. Therefore, ensuring your home is always neat and tidy is crucial. You can develop a house cleaning routine to sanitise household surfaces and fixtures daily. If you are ending a tenancy, hire professionals for vacate cleaning in Perth and
get your bond back.
However, to keep your kids healthy, it is important to be good role models by cleaning the house and teaching your children the value of sanitation. Besides inculcating personal hygiene habits, here are 10 ways to teach young kids the importance of house cleaning.
1. Start Them Young
Delegate
age-appropriate cleaning tasks to your children from a young age to instil in them the importance of cleaning. For example, a 3-4-year toddler can help you fold laundry, pick up toys, remove trash etc. An older child can help dust, clean specific messes, washing dirty dishes. Teenagers can vacuum carpets, load the dishwasher, do laundry and so forth.
2. Cleaning & Punishment shouldn’t be Synonyms
Asking their kids to clean as a punishment is a common mistake most parents make. It leads to children associating cleaning with negative emotions and pushes them to avoid it. Aim to associate positivity with household sanitation tasks. Ask your kids to help you clean rather than give them orders to sort their room, wipe messes etc.
3. Explain Why Cleaning is Important
If you have older kids, explain the science behind cleaning. Show them videos explaining how surfaces gather dust, dirt and grime.
Additionally, explain how germs grow and increase the risk of
viral and bacterial infections. Once your children understand how cleaning works, they’ll be inclined to clean. If you hire a professional cleaner for vacate cleaning in Perth, see if your kids can talk to them about the importance of cleaning.
4. Invest in Cleaning Supplies for Kids
If you have small children, get a pretend cleaning kit/set for them to play with and instil a likeness for cleaning. Also, for older kids, get fun coloured cleaning tools. You can take them along while shopping. What’s more, ask your kid to make a cleaning caddy with their name and other customisations. Even professional vacate cleaners in Perth do it to make cleaning personal and fun.
5. Make Cleaning Fun
Dedicate a day every week to include your kids while house cleaning. Make the chores fun by playing songs, inventing games, recording time and more. You can also play a movie or audiobook to engage your kids in cleaning.
6. Make Cleaning Worth Their Time
One of the best ways to teach kids the value of cleaning is by paying them the amount it can take to pay for medicines or hospital bills if they fall sick. Your kids will gladly take the money instead and be happy to clean.
7. Spill It, Wipe It
Enforce a clean-as-you-spill policy in your home, especially when toddlers frequently knock over water, food and drinks. Verbalise ‘Spill it, wipe it’ every time an accident happens and encourage your child to take care of it.
Show your kid where the cleaning supplies are and teach them the correct cleaning method. If you spill something accidentally, wipe it after verbalising the motto to lead by example.
8. Never Pass Your Dislike for a Chore
Children imitate adults and pick up on emotional cues to form their opinions. Therefore, you can unknowingly pass your dislike for a cleaning chore to your child. If you don’t like dusting or mopping but show your child their importance and do them enthusiastically, they will associate positivity with the tasks and do them without bias.
9. Create a Calendar
If you have older kids, streamline tasks for them and everyone else in the house with a chores calendar.
Outline daily and weekly tasks and assign ownership to these tasks.
Also, mention the deadlines to ensure everyone does the tasks within a stipulated time. To get everyone to follow the calendar and understand the importance of cleaning, set rewards like chocolate after 3 tasks or movie night after 10 tasks.
10. Appreciate Help from Kids
Maintaining household hygiene is a gradual process and if you want your kids to clean happily, appreciate their contribution. Always give positive reviews even if your child wipes a mess or dusts an area. Eventually, your kid will start cleaning chores because they enjoy them and feel good about themselves.
The Bottom Line
Often children’s dislike for house cleaning is a learned behaviour. You can change it by making cleaning chores fun, exciting and rewarding. Cleaning should be a positive activity and never a form of punishment.
Thus, use this guide to teach young kids the value of house cleaning and make them appreciate a neat & tidy home. Also, if you are getting your property cleaned by professional who offers
affordable vacate cleaning Perth, get your kids to watch and ask questions to learn more about the benefits of cleaning.
