With the COVID-19 pandemic still raging around the world, staying home and taking precautions to prevent contracting and spreading the coronavirus is critically important. This means that most households are bustling with activity now that families are quarantining together and trying to keep themselves entertained! It’s not easy to do this when you’ve got kids that are terribly bored of being stuck in the house and, even worse, developing lazy habits that keep them glued to the sofa and staring at a screen all day long.
While you want to make sure that your kids are safe and having some fun during this difficult time, it is also a golden opportunity to teach them about responsibility and the importance of keeping a clean and sanitary home. Particularly during a virus outbreak such as COVID-19, disinfecting your home is a must to ensure that your family is safe inside your house.
Enlighten Kids on the Importance of a Clean House
Educating children (at a young age) about the ill effects of a dirty house is one of the best ways to encourage them to clean and do chores instead of yelling or threatening them. Of course, to get some kids on board, there will need to be consequences if they aren’t cooperating or deliberately ignoring their responsibilities.
By enlightening them on the subject of germs/bacteria, and how they cause illnesses, your kids will be more motivated to protect themselves and their families from them (germs/illnesses). Particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, kids need to understand the seriousness of contagious viruses and strictly follow precautionary measures taught to them by their parents. Knowledge is power and the younger children are taught, the better. Moreover, this is something that will prepare them to look after their own homes someday.
For now, though, how can you get your kids to help out around the house during the quarantine? Well, here are some household chores they can do that will also encourage good habits to keep your home clean and tidy!
NOTE: All chores for kids need to be age-appropriate for their own safety.
Declutter Rooms Daily
Children of all ages tend to clutter up surfaces rather easily by using things and never putting them back in place. Whether it’s toys and comic books, or gadgets and other personal belongings; have your kids pick up after themselves while also contributing to tidying up surfaces when needed. This is certainly one of the easier tasks and the least they can do to help parents in maintaining a neat and clean home.
Fold and Put Away Laundry
If your kids aren’t old enough to do laundry, they can definitely lend you a hand in folding and putting it away. Younger kids will need some guidance here so be sure to take your time in showing them how to fold clothes and where to put them after. Similarly, hanging washed laundry to dry is another chore your kids can take off your shoulders as long as they are old enough and capable of doing it.
Dust Furniture
This is a household chore for older kids that are capable of being more careful not to break anything while being tall enough to reach higher surfaces. Of course, dusting is a rather time-consuming and boring chore for a kid so it’s best to have them dust the furniture in one room per day, or have two or more kids help each other out so that the task is completed faster. Let them know that daily dusting is a much easier and quicker chore as opposed to allowing dust to accumulate for days and then doing it. This will serve as motivation for them to dust every day without being nagged!
Do the Dishes
Another chore for older kids, washing dishes by hand is something everyone has to do at some point in their life so it’s best to get the hang of it while you’re still a kid! A good rule to have in place in your household is to instruct each person to wash up their own dishes while dividing the rest of the dirty dishes so that the burden doesn’t fall on one person alone. On the other hand, if you have a dishwasher, set different days for your kids to load it so that everyone shares the responsibility of this daily chore.
Assist in Deep Cleaning
Your kids can be your little helpers when you are deep cleaning areas or things in your house such as the refrigerator or cabinetry. From fetching items to wiping down things you hand to them, kids can be very helpful; however, they can also be rather grumpy when made to do these things. Therefore, this is one of those times when it’s okay to play on their emotions by explaining that you have a lot of other things to do and could really use their help to lessen the burden on your shoulders. Kids are very understanding when you explain things to them in simple terms.
Straighten Out Rooms
With everyone at home during the quarantine, almost every room gets used on a daily basis, therefore, requiring to be straightened out at some point. It’s a very simple chore for kids to do and yet, makes the room look so much neater. From pushing chairs back in place to straightening out the cushions on your sofas; have your kids do these little tasks in the evening or before bedtime so that everything is neat and tidy when you wake up the next day.
Clean Their Bedroom
Kids are generally not bothered by a messy bedroom but it sure does drive the parents crazy! Since this is their own personal space in the house, it is important to teach kids to respect it by maintaining cleanliness and tidiness. More importantly, their bedrooms should be a hygienic space and free of allergens. The best way to get your kids to clean their bedroom is by helping them understand how they can keep it that way. Give them specific times in the day to inspect the room and put away anything that may be lying out of place such as clothes, toys, books, etc. If they are not old enough to dust and sweep/vacuum, you can do this easily and quickly since they have done their bit to tidy up the room.
Set the Table and Clear the Table
While you’re getting lunch and dinner ready, your kids can set the table so that you don’t have to spend additional time and effort on doing it. Similarly, have them clear the table and clean it after meals while you take care of storing leftovers and/or other kitchen cleaning tasks. Remember, a little help goes a long way!
Raising kids is no walk in the park; every parent makes mistakes and learns from them as they go. However, one of the things you can get right in your parenthood journey is to teach your kids the importance of doing chores to help out around the house and keeping a clean, tidy, and sanitary home. So, don’t let the quarantine make your kids lazy and inactive; give them household chores to do that will keep them busy and help develop good habits for a neater and cleaner home!
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