How to Teach Your Children to Clean

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This is a sponsored post by Collective Bias, Inc. for Palmolive® Multi-Surface. This story and printables are mine and I am happy to share our cleaning routine with you! #PalmoliveMultiSurface #CollectiveBias

I can’t keep the house clean on my own. I just don’t have enough hours in the day. Luckily, I have four little helpers with me who can help out around the house to ease my load. Getting kids to clean correctly and effectively takes a little bit of work, but time you put into training them to help now will pay off in spades later (not to mention be a benefit to them for the rest of their lives!).

The Whole Family Helps

We have slowly been going through the chores that need to be done to keep our home safe and comfortable. For me, the Kitchen is the sticking point. It just has to be clean for me to really be happy with the state of my home. Even if other areas are a total disaster, if the kitchen is clean, I can relax. Plus, a clean kitchen means my husband can cook!

Getting Ready to Teach

I told the kids that they were going to be helping me out more around the house while we were out at Walmart shopping. I had them help me choose new sponges, a bucket, some colorful gloves for each of them, and various scrubbers and brushes and brooms to make it feel like we were about to do something special.

Palmolive

 

Find Palmolive® Multi-Surface in the cleaning supplies section with the rest of the dish soap!

Having the right tools for the job makes all the difference. The kids loved opening up their new supplies for the first time. I also picked up Palmolive® Multi-Surface knowing it would streamline the cleaning process because I would only need one cleaner for the dishes and kitchen surfaces. I made the decision that each Sunday, the kids and I take about half an hour to really deep clean the kitchen and get it ready for the week.

When it’s time to do the kitchen as a family, I fill the sink and a bucket with warm water, add a dash of Palmolive® Multi-Surface, and we’re good to go.

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How to Teach Your Children to Clean the Kitchen

The kitchen is a great place to start when you are first teaching your children to clean. When you start, you really want to be in there with them, modeling how to do the task safely. When you’re using a cleaner with children, you really need to make sure they understand how to protect their skin and eyes, and to never, ever put the cleaners near their mouths. If they aren’t old enough to understand this, hand them plain water in a bucket for their use, they’ll still be able to help, but without the risk.

Teaching Kids How to Clean

Working alongside them also gives you an opportunity to show them the exact steps and how you prefer them to complete the task. After you have shown them a time or two, you can watch them do the chore, and when you are comfortable with it, they can do the chore on their own. I have made task cards for my oldest children, so if they are ever unsure of the steps, I have it written down for them to follow.

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 The to-do kitchen cleaning lists (keep reading for the free printable!) 

Age Appropriate Kitchen Chores

Tasks for Big Kitchen Helpers:

  • Take out the trash
  • Load and unload the dishwasher
  • Hand wash dishes
  • Sweep
  • Mop
  • Help with cooking meals
  • Check for dates on food in the refrigerator
  • Wipe down the inside of the refrigerator
  • Wipe down the microwave

Tasks for Little Kitchen Helpers:

  • Use the dustpan to sweep up messes
  • Clear the table
  • Scrape food scraps into the trash
  • Rinse dishes
  • Wipe down cupboards
  • Wipe counters
  • Wipe the table
  • Pick up trash
  • Help with cooking meals
  • Scrub the baseboards
  • Wipe fingerprints from the wall
  • Wipe down the trash bin
  • Help put away dishes

garbage sweep DSC_0078 DSC_0051 DSC_0044 DSC_0057  DSC_0038 DSC_0034

Keep up the routine!

We only deep clean like this once a week, but during the week the kids have chores to do to keep it at a tolerable level of messy. My 7 year old is in charge of clearing off the table, wiping it down, and sweeping up scraps with the dustpan after every meal. My little girl wipes down the cupboards daily (mostly because her peanut butter hands are constantly making them messy). My oldest takes out the trash and does the dishwasher every day.

Kitchen Helper Printable

You can get the Big Helper & Little Helper Kitchen Printables FREE in our shop

Printable Chore Charts

Or get the complete printable chore system, with Big Helper/Little Helper printables for the kitchen, bathroom and bedroom as well as chore chart cards, which can be used in three different ways.

Do your kids help you out around the house?

Pick up Palmolive® Multi-Surface at Walmart now! It’s a dish soap you can also use on all your kitchen surfaces, making cleaning easier! Palmolive® Multi Surface eliminates 99.9% of bacteria (*staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella enterica and E. coli ((157:H7)) from dishes and hard non porous kitchen surfaces.

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5 Comments

  1. It is so great to have the children help with the cleaning! After all they are the ones that most of the time cause the mess! 🙂 My kids are still very little but I am planning to start already teaching them little by little how to help with the housework! I really appreciate your tips and ideas! Thank you!

  2. I think those are great tips especially for having younger children around. One thing I noticed (even with bigger kids) is that if you are doing something that they can’t (or you don’t want them to) help you do, then give them attention first and clean second. Even if I had to do something a little later than I planned, it beat the chore taking twice as long because I was interrupted every 5 minutes by a child needing attention.

  3. With three little ones, this is extremely helpful! The printable is great! My boys love wiping down the counters and sweeping! #client

  4. Almost all of us, especially those of us with young children, struggle to keep our home clean. It takes time, effort and energy and those are all precious and scarce resources.

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