It’s spring cleaning time and a perfect time to teach your little one ( or not so little one) to clean up after herself. Being a single mother means you need all the help you can get so the last thing you need is to spend your time picking up things your kids have set down and never put away. Teach them when they are little and it won’t be such a battle when they get older.
I always felt guilty having Hailey help clean up. My guilt from the divorce spilled over onto everything but I finally had to realize that these are life skills, everyone needs to know how to clean up after themselves.
If you can make it a game when they are little it will be more fun. It may take longer initially but the time spent now will reduce cleaning time later. Kids love to throw things, put one of those little basketball hoops over the toy bin and see who can make the most shots. Assign each person an area of the room and play music, who ever gets done first gets to pick whats for dessert. Race a timer, pretend that you just can’t pick things up as fast as she can, be silly. When they are laughing and having fun it won’t seem like work.
Try to be as specific as possible. If you say clean your room that can be overwhelming. Break it into smaller jobs. Now, let’s clean up the Legos. Can you pick up all the crayons? Allow them to focus on one thing at a time and give them lots of praise.
Rotate your kids toys. If there are less toys there is less to pick up. Most of the time toys get tossed aside while they are looking for something else. If there are fewer choices this doesn’t happen as often.
If all else fails and you have to pick up, put everything you pick up in a bag and make them earn it back, one toy at a time.