Keeping the house clean with Kids: #DadLife June 2022 part 1
Welcome once again to my blog, salute you and i also welcome you to @motherhood's weekly challenge with the #DadLife initiative, so glade to be part of this months challenge, am actually beginning with this month of June challenge #1, i will be sharing my experiences on keeping the home or house clean with kids, this to anybody who has a child with him, is like an impossible task but though difficult but yet still possible, this is the painful truth about my subject of discussion.
As at when we started having children, i noticed that it was almost an impossible thing to do or to think of in the presences of kids. it was a hard thing for considering the environment, i grew up. personally i grew up in an environment were keeping the house clean was non negotiable, as in 24 house round the clock, I even started having issues with my wife in the first few weeks, because my background did hold that, in high esteem but thanks God, wisdom came and there was a way out. keeping the house clean could be easier when you have few more hands to help out but if no, it will be hard.
Declutter the before they are awake:
i know that this will be a very difficult thing to do in a house that has so much stuffs, like my kids they here it as a song on daily basis, as they awake from sleep, when they wake up to see that things have been well organized, it will be easier to place things back to were they took them at first or were it normally belongs, this is not applicable in all part of the house but for me two location to start are my bathroom and kitchen, this two locations, at intervals things will be coming in and as well, you will have to more deliberate because of the nature of stuffs that will be found there. Considering the entire, you must give yourself time accept that decluttering is never done because when kids are around, scattering is a necessity.
Let the Kids know were everything is kept:
The kids knowing that everything has a place will speak volume even in your absences, and when everyone knows the place each stuffs should be, will be of a great help. You will know this famous catchy phrase:
“A place for everything, and everything in its place.”, its a watch word in our house, so when you get a thing from any location, you have to put it back were it belongs, you must place them were they rightly belong.
Baskets and racks should be accessible:
Kids at all times should be able to reach the coat racks, if not you will always have them droop it off the racks, also looking at the kitchen, if the dishes are out of reach, it will difficult to have them keep it clean, i will recommend that you get a kid-height hook and make the kitchen a place were they can also access things readily, also do not under estimate the the use of open bins in strategic locations, so as to help them keep the house nit and tidy. we also do a cleaning routine, on daily and at weekends, it will take time to establish it but you will be glad you did, we engage the daily routine in the early hours of the morning, and on Saturday at weekend, this will take some time to establish it but the time is worth it, mine was done after like 5 years. Daily cleaning routines will help keep clutter at bay so that much time will not be spent on the weekly cleaning routine. then the weekend cleaning routine generally will take some good time because it will be a deep cleaning, with this, as the kids grow, they learn to take responsibility.
The systems must be kept simple:
Kids do love to stay were the system permits flexibility, simple in all sense to aid understanding and avoid complications, it is important to make the system also very attractive, in terms of colors and designs,
let the kids know how to clean their rooms:
My kids in the last few months have grown to know that Saturdays are days for major house clean-up, that in the last few months have been an established structure, when am present and in my absent. so you must give attention to your room, and i will come for inspection, after cleaning time frame, at the initial time, it was a struggle but now we also have introduces a reward system to someone who scores most in the clean up exercise. you can tell how interesting it will sound when someone wins the award, we call it "the clean boss winner", who ever wins it keeps the award in his or her room. Guest what every visitor to the house will know that know that he or she won the award, so you have to do your best within the month to retain the award else another will take it from you.
Do away with dumping temptations from toddlers:
It is very true that as you you begin to have older kids in the mix, it will definitely get harder, this is because those older once will want to have access to stuffs, but they must also understand that this is to help the younger once to avoid messing up the house and giving them more work to do, it will not be easy as it was with me but if the house must be kept clean, then we must take off possible dumping temptation from toddlers, until they have grown out of the dumping phase, if not so you will not enjoy the experience, because their dumping exploration can drive you crazy.
When we have children, keeping the house clean and in order is almost an impossible mission, but it is necessary and a priority for everyone, especially in these times where diseases and infections are becoming more and more present, that is why and despite how difficult it seems everything starts with the habit and teaching them to organize their toys when they finish using them is a way of educating them and at the same time making our work easier. link
This is my entry for the weekly #motherhood contest, #Dadlife and #momlife, as a father i have shared my experiences, soon i will be able to convince my wife to come onboard, we would have love to share it on a dual capacity, but for now, this is how we do it. thanks for stopping by my blog, please do well to drop your comment and support as you deem fit. bless you