Teaching My Kids New Ways to Clean

For all that know my work well, probably know by now that I have a bit of an obsession with things being clean.

Each day my children are given chores to do. Simple things based off of their ages:

Samuel: Dishes Hunter: Trash Lillian: Her bedroom Leo: Nothing — He’s two. Each day the kids are given the same chores and each day they either do not do them correctly or they don’t do them at all….

Needless to say, this irks me quite a bit.

I needed a different approach. Just advising my children to do chores they’ve watched me do a million times wasn’t enough.

So, I created a plan. A separation of smaller parts of the chore. Each one very simple. A step-by-step process, If you will.

I simply tell them the small step and watch them complete it. Once the first step is done (and done right) we move onto the next, and then the next… until the whole chore is done.

We have been doing this for about three weeks now and I have gotten to the point where I no longer have to advise them of the steps. I still watch as they go through the process to make sure they get it done… but it is becoming muscle memory.

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Full disclosure: This was my husband's idea. At first, I did not think it would work. I assumed the kids would drag their feet, moan and groan and do everything they could to try to get me to do the chore for them.

But no, they found this process almost like a game to win and started doing it faster and faster each day. We can see that they are proud of themselves when they finish their task with minimal help and are quick to tell everyone that will listen, what they can do. I am very proud of the growth they have shown.

If you have not attempted this, give it a try. What could it hurt?

🧡Shine Bright, Kayla