It doesn’t matter what age you are. Household chores can feel like such a, well, a chore. When you have to clean up after the whole family, you might see exasperation, if not resentment, creep into your day-to-day life. Instead of letting everything add up and having way too much on your plate, get the whole family involved. From simple tasks like taking out the trash to a much-needed cleaning of the couch to get rid of all that pet hair, here are nine household chores that kids will actually enjoy.
- Little Kid Chores — Even the youngest toddlers can begin to create habits of learning to love to clean. They can handle fun and simple chores like removing pet hair from their clothing or furniture with the easy-to-use, best pet hair remover. Encourage them to help put their clothes away in the drawer or put their toys in the toy box.
- Taking Out the Trash — Older children like preteens and teenagers can start taking responsibility for chores like taking out the trash. They might not have “fun” doing this kind of chore, but your budding preteen or busy-as-ever teenager will appreciate this quick weekly or twice-a-week chore. All they have to do is roll out the trash to the curb and be done with it. Then, they can move on to everything else that they’re interested in besides this easy chore.
- Learning to Love Laundry — There’s something about the texture and smell of clean laundry. From an early age, teach your kids to love fresh laundry. Bond together as you fold clothing. Teach young ones how to put clothes into the dryer. Your older ones can take care of picking up or dropping off dry cleaning.
Source: Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock.com - Discarding and Donating — Every year, make a habit of gathering together as a family and doing an inventory for spring cleaning. Decide what you want to keep, throw away or donate. If there are clothes your kids love to wear or books they (or you!) want to keep as memories, keep them at home. If there are dirty clothes with stains or items in total disrepair, throw them away or recycle them. Any clothes, books and other items that are still in a gently used condition can be donated.
- King or Queen of Their Kingdom — Your child might have their own room, or they might share one with a sibling. Either way, their room is their domain. They should take care of it, especially as they continue to get older. If they’re still at that young age where they like to play make-believe, pretend that they’re the king or queen. While they might not have any royal subjects to outsource the cleaning to, they should still be proud of their bedroom or “kingdom,” so to speak. Encourage them to be a King or Queen of the people and take care of their room. Even Cinderella knew how to clean her room.
- Everything Has a Home — Your kitchen utensils belong in the drawer. Your linens belong in the linen closet. Why would you put your shoes in the kitchen cabinet or your laptop in the dishwasher? Everything in your home has a place. When playing the cleanup game with your kids, remind them that everything belongs in a certain place at home. Kids won’t always do as you tell them. Most of the time, they’ll prefer to copy what they see you do. Talk the talk and walk the walk by leading by example. Don’t let your car keys or purse end up in random places at home. Have a designated bowl or area for your keys. Put your purse in a corner or on the counter where it belongs.
- Busy Bees — To make the most out of cleaning time, you and the kids can focus on the busiest rooms or areas in your home. Busy areas can include where everyone congregates in your home during family gatherings, including any furry family members. Your kids can use a pet hair remover brush on any non-knit surfaces in the home (floors, carpets, furniture and more) to help remove any pet hair.
Source: Sellwell/Shutterstock.com - Doing Chores Together Daily — A survey suggests that an individual spends two to four hours each week cleaning their home, and seven out of 10 people have no time to clean their home. Even if you outsource your cleaning to a cleaning company or person, it’s important to instill habits of cleaning daily with your children. It becomes a family bonding time where you both spend time with your kids and get them into the habit of cleaning for when they become an adult one day.
- Creating the Family Cleaning Wheel — Not everyone has to do the same chore every week. That will make chores quickly become a bore for everyone. Instead, get your kids excited about the routine of cleaning by creating a colorful family cleaning wheel or chart. Each week, you can rotate the chores. Let your son take care of taking out the trash one week and your daughter handle dishwashing — then have them switch. That way, everyone at home learns how to do different chores and no one gets stuck cleaning the bathroom floor over and over again.
