As I touched on last week, children having respect for their spaces and being responsible at an age appropriate level for cleaning up their own things are closely related. When we take care of things we show that they have value to us. These things that we have are of themselves not necessarily important, but when things are kept in good order the atmosphere of our homes is calmer and more pleasant. Kids feel important when they are trusted to be responsible for their own things.
As promised, here are some tips to help your child be successful in learning how to tidy up:
- Break it down into small steps. Rather than direct your child to “clean up your room,” tell them to start by cleaning up all of the toy cars. Once they’ve finished the first task, move onto the next (”clean up the toy dishes”). These small successes give your child a direction to get moving in and the confidence to keep going.
- Make it fun! Cleaning up does not have to be a dreaded chore. Have your toy cars zoom into the toybox, tuck the dolls in gently. Singing a clean up song or listening to music as you work can make tidy up fun and fast.
- Help your child and expect your child to help you. Cleaning up together can be a great time to chat and connect.
- Encourage your child to help you with your tasks around the house. As they dust, sweep and tidy along with you they can learn an appreciation for and the skills to show respect and care for their home.
- Set up a routine. Build time into the flow of your day for clean up. This will be different for each family. Some people set a rule where each activity or toy must be cleaned up before a new one can be started. I find this works well for crafts and games, but for toys I find that this interrupts their imaginative play. For that I find it best to make sure clean up happens each evening before bedtime routines or before supper. Find what works best for you and make it part of every day.
In this way, caring for your home becomes a family project and kids learn age appropriate responsibility and respect for their things. Next week I’ll touch on an opposite idea…why it’s important for parents to play with and spend time with their kids.