Spring Cleaning Part # 2 – Making it Fun for the Entire Family!

Who wants to spend their time spring cleaning when you could be having fun with your family instead! Since we must make time for the work, get the kids involved and make it a fun family activity! Having your children participate in Spring Cleaning doesn't just make for some quality family time, but it also teaches some great life skills. Learning how to take care of, fix and clean are skills children will need to know as they grow older, so take advantage of this teachable moment and have some fun while you are at it!

 I know how hard it can be to get your kids excited about cleaning, but here are a few things you can do to get them excited to jump in and tackle that Spring Cleaning list with you. (Make sure you are prepared for spring cleaning with last week's post Spring Cleaning Tips for the Busy Family: Part #1)

Individualize Tasks Talk with your children ahead of time and see what tasks they would be excited about doing!  Assign chores that best suit your child’s interests so they are excited about participating. For example, If your child loves movies, let them dust off the DVD’s and place them in alphabetical order. When they are finished, they get to pick out the family movie for when the chores are complete. If you child likes things that sparkle, give them a rag to and let them shine all of your knick- naks to make the house “Sparkle!”

Spring Cleaning Party! Crank up the Music and up the fun factor! Make it a cleaning dance party! Let them choose what music they want to listen to during your “Dance Party”! See how much you can get done in one song, give everyone dusters and dance around the house dusting that winter dirt away.  Music can help motivate children of any age to join in the fun! Don’t forget those feather boas and sunglasses. Get silly! Who says you can’t clean while looking like a Diva!

Make it a Competition! Create teams and assign equal lists for each team. The first ones to complete their list of chores gets a prize at the end. Working as teams will not only help things to get done faster, but will also ensure the chores gets done correctly with a little parental supervision.  Also, most of the chores can be broken down so that Adults are using the harsh cleaners and getting the bulk of the grime, while children are participating in more age appropriate activities to complete the tasks.

Create a Visual This can not only help your child understand the chore, but will also help keep them motivated if they know what the end result will be. You can create a chore board (check out last week’s post for an idea for a chore board) to keep them motivated to move forward with pictures of the tasks and rewards when they are complete!

Reward for the Work Everyone will deserve a reward after this hard work! Use it as an incentive to accomplish tasks along the way. They can be large or small from a sweet treat, a quarter, more computer time, whatever interests your children and will truly reward them for their hard work! Reward the entire family too with a dinner out, or a movie together so that everyone gets to celebrate their accomplishment together!