Teaching Your Child Good Cleaning Habits
A child is good at making messes, but teach her how to be good at cleanup, too! The best private schools in Orlando always encourage parents to teach your child responsibility in order to help her grow into her fullest potential. Enforce rules that include her in the housekeeping. When she feels she is needed and trusted, watch her confidence bloom.
Be Realistic With Timelines
Start with an outline of what your child will take on. Include information like deadlines, but be realistic with them. A round of laundry may not take as long as, say, deep cleaning the kitchen. Organize chores into small activities. You don’t want your child to be scared, overwhelmed, and exhausted. After all, slow and steady wins the race! With careful instruction, your child will have a better grasp of the routine and will feel more capable and accomplished.
Provide Incentives
Create a checklist and once your child completes a task, you can give her a reward! Establishing incentives ahead of time will encourage her to get her chores time on time. Remember that an incentive doesn’t always mean giving her something, but you could also take something away. If your child isn’t being cooperative, tell her you’ll take away her iPad or that she’ll get less online play time for the week.
Make It Fun
The thought of cleaning might make your child upset. She thinks it’s boring, and she’d rather be playing outside. But show her how fun clean-up time can be by making a game out of it! Set up a timer to see how fast she can complete her tasks. What child doesn’t love a good race and the feeling of winning? Additionally, you can play upbeat music around the house to get your child’s enthusiasm up!
Calm Confrontation
If your child hasn’t cleaned up yet, try not to make passive-aggressive comments. Saying things like “If you clean now, we can play later,” will reduce any stressful confrontation. No shouting or nagging; positive reinforcement is the key.
For more than 50 years, the best private schools in Orlando have been helping children grow to their fullest potential and become leaders within their communities. We offer unique and dynamic learning environments that engage students and encourage them to become confident and responsible adults. To learn more about what makes us different, contact us today.