What are some cleaning skills your kids should learn?

Cleaning Skills Your Kids Should Learn

By Sarah Aguirre

Kids and a clean home don't always seem to go together. But in reality, your children can learn some basic skills that will help keep the house tidier. Here are some recommended chores that kids should learn.

• 01 Doing Laundry

Kids as young as 2 years old can begin to learn about sorting. In fact, young kids often find that sorting items are a game. Older toddlers can learn to help put away clothes. School-aged kids can learn to fold laundry and begin to learn about loading and unloading the washer and dryer with supervision. Between the ages of 8-10, most kids mature enough to have full responsibility of loading the washing machine and dryer as well as cleaning the washing machine or cleaning the dryer. If you begin teaching at a young age, by the time your child is 10-11, they will have learned the entire process of laundry from sorting it to putting it away.

• 02 Washing Dishes

Washing dishes seems like a never ending chore. Children who are trained properly can be a big help at getting dishes clean. Whether you are teaching your children to use a dishwasher or wash dishes by hand, the best way to start is with scraping and rinsing. Even 5-6 year olds can be taught how to scrape and rinse their plates. 7-8 year olds can help with drying and putting away dishes. By age 9 kids are ready to learn how to wash different types of dishes or load a dishwasher. Be sure to teach safety principles. I still remember my Dad showing me how to set the knives aside instead of dumping them into hot soapy water where they would be impossible to see.

• 03 Make a Bed

I know it is a dying art, but learning how to make a bed is a valuable skill. It doesn't mean your kids will always do it, but at least they'll know how. Start simply by showing them how to make their own bed when they are toddlers. Progress to letting them make a bed themselves. When my kids were little, they liked the freedom to arrange their pillows and stuffed animals the way they liked. It was an incentive for them to make their beds each morning. Parents can make it easier on their kids by choosing less complicated bedding for their children. Until my kids were school-aged, I never bothered with adding a top sheet to their beds. Parents might consider eliminating extra sheets, blankets, or pillows, especially if they are not used by the child.

• 04 Sweep a Floor

It seems like a simple thing. All you have to do is drag a broom across a floor. But effective sweeping is not always that simple to do and often takes some practice. Give a kid a broom, and you are likely to see dirt flipping everywhere except a pile. Even with all the new gadgets out there, learning to use a broom is a great skill. By age 7-8 kids can begin to learn to sweep floors. Younger kids are even able to hold a dustpan for a partner to sweep into. Older can also learn to use other gadget sweepers in addition to traditional brooms.

• 05 Mop a Floor

Learning to mop a floor is a task best suited for older school-aged kids. By the ages of 9-10, most kids will be old enough to learn to mop without much supervision. Teach kids how to prepare mop water, how to wring out a mop, when to rinse a mop head, what to do with tough spots, how to rinse out a mop and bucket, and how to store a mop. Be sure to give them instructions on how to mop different floor types you may have in your home. I thought I was being quite helpful when I sloshed water around on unsealed hardwood floors at the age of 9. It was as my parents frantically dried the floor that I learned that different floors require different mopping techniques.

• 06 Removing Clutter

One of the most useful skills we can teach our children is one that can be difficult even for adults. Teaching children to declutter from a younger age can actually create a habit for them that they will carry forward in their lives. Let reluctant kids watch you declutter your own stuff. Share your clutter questions that you ask as you determine what to keep. Some kids may be motivated to donate unused items to less fortunate people. Other kids may be more motivated to sell clutter items in order to save up for something else they really want.