Living in a family is messy business. Ok, living is messy – I can’t blame it all on everyone else! Clothes get dirty, food spills, kids squirt toothpaste all over the bathroom sink and leave it there to dry, boys miss the toilet leaving their bathroom smelling like pee, windows smear, markers and crayons leave marks on hardwood and tile and carpet.
I’ve finally realized that I don’t have to keep up with it by myself, and more importantly I shouldn’t keep up with it myself. I do my children a disservice by cleaning up after them. Learning how to clean up after yourself, wash dishes, launder clothes, and care for your home should be a part of growing up.
I’ll be honest though — when I first began thinking about how to teach basic home skills to my kids, I was a little anxious about all the cleaners and the chemicals in them. Certain products in particular, like bleach, tile cleaner, antibacterial wipes and sprays, and glass cleaner, have toxic ingredients dangerous to breathe or ingest. I struggled (still do) with letting my children handle these products; yet at the same time I need to teach them how to be safe.
I decided to approach in in two ways.
First, I teach them one skill at a time, and give them time to master it.
For example, my oldest (who is 8), is learning how to clean the bathroom. I show him the spray cleaner and the wipes I use. I demonstrate how I clean the nobs and handles first, then the sink, so I don’t spread germs back onto the surfaces I touch with my hands. Same with the toilet – clean the handle first, then the seat, then work your way from the top down to the floor. He is old enough to understand and follow a multi-step process like this, and his thinking is advanced enough to follow the logic of why I do it that way.
On the other hand, my youngest is 3 ½. I give him very simple one-step instructions. I give him a spray bottle and a towel and let him go to town on the glass door to the backyard or the mirror on the back of the bathroom door or the kitchen table.
Second, I use safe products.
When my oldest wipes off the bathroom counter and then lays all the toothbrushes back on the counter, I don’t have to worry about the chemicals from the cleaner getting on their toothbrushes and into their mouths.
When my youngest cleans the back door, he sprays and sprays until cleaner is pouring down the glass, pooling on the floor, and soaking his clothes. But it’s made of such safe ingredients that even if it gets in his mouth (or our dog licks it), it is ok. Safe products allow me to relax and let him “help” while he’s young enough to be excited about it. I would hate to quench that enthusiasm – and I’ve been guilty of doing exactly that.
Interested in the cleaning products I use? You can get them here. They come in concentrate form, so you waste fewer bottles and spend less in shipping costs, plus the value is incredible. One 16 oz bottle of this window cleaner costs just a few pennies, compared to Clorox Greenworks which costs about $3 per 16 oz bottle. And it’s simple: just one bottle of concentrate will make all-purpose, floor, window and degreaser.
Joy writes on her personal blog, joyinthisjourney.com, and is a contributing writer at http://deeperstory.com.
