How to Get the Kids to Help with Spring Cleaning

This post is sponsored by Kimberly-Clark and The Motherhood.

With spring cleaning on the horizon, I’m sure many of us could use some tips for getting the kids’ help in getting the house in tip top shape after a long, dreary winter. We’ve already started some of our spring cleaning and I’m going to share my tips for how to get the kids to help with spring cleaning.

How to Get the Kids to Help with Spring Cleaning

I’ll admit that I haven’t always been the best at teaching and allowing my children to help out around the house. It’s been a learning process for all of us, but it has truly helped to lessen the load on me, while teaching my children responsibility. Where before I would just complete the tasks that needed to be done to get them out of the way, I’ve adopted a different approach. This new approach has made the household chores a team effort.

Think as a Team

When I think about all the tasks that need to be completed during spring cleaning, I’ll admit that I get incredibly overwhelmed. It’s an awful lot for just one person to do. Thankfully there are four other people in my household who can chip in and offer assistance.

Working together as a team not only produces family unity, it teaches children lifelong skills that they’ll need once they’re out of the house. Hopefully their future spouses will thank me.

Break it Down

First off, let’s remind ourselves that spring cleaning takes time. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. It’s not going to get done in one weekend. It’s just not. The key is to break the housekeeping chores down into manageable tasks and tackle those smaller jobs over the course of several weeks.

The thought of wiping all the baseboards in every single room or dusting each and every slat of the blinds in our home seems nearly impossible. That’s literally hundreds of slats that need to be wiped down. Definitely not a job that anyone wants to do. But, a job that needs to be done.

Maybe break it down by room so that one person doesn’t get overwhelmed by such a big task. Or divide the amount of blinds by the people in your household and make it a race to see who can get done the fastest. Make it fun so that it doesn’t seem like such a tedious task.

Be Specific

When giving tasks to younger children, be specific with your requests. Telling them to “clean your bedroom” is much too overwhelming. If your goal is to get them to clean their bedroom, start with smaller tasks that need to be done around the bedroom like, “put your shoes in your closet” or “put away all your cars in the proper container”. By breaking up the tasks, it allows them to clearly understand exactly what they should be doing.

Turn Up the Music

If I want to get my kids energized and ready for a full day of cleaning, I get out the portable speaker and turn the music up as loud as we can stand. Their current favorite is Bohemian Rhapsody (I’ve got my husband to thank for that one).

Start out with a dance party in the kitchen as you wipe down cabinets and counter tops. Or try out your best ballerina moves as you’re wiping down door knobs and light switch plates.

Play Hide and Seek

I’m all about rewards. When I do a good job, I like to be rewarded, so I try to do the same with my kids. Before you begin spring cleaning, hide dollar bills and loose change around the house. Whatever money they find while cleaning is theirs to keep.

It helps to have a plan in place so you know where they will be cleaning to earn their rewards. Hide change or dollars underneath couch cushions. If they need to clean out the toy box, add some there. Need them to go through their drawers, strategically place money in their drawers to ensure they go through every one.

If you are forgetful like me, make a master list of where you’ve hidden money.

Make a List

If I’m constantly nagging my children, I’m aggravating them more than I’m motivating them. To make it easier on them and me, I make a list of their required chores. This keeps them from coming to me constantly asking what they need to do, and it helps keeps me sane.

I know that spring cleaning seems impossible when you have little children running around. But the key here is to make your children part of the solution rather than part of the problem. They have so much to offer and it truly is amazing what their little hands can accomplish when they are given the proper guidance and direction.

It really is best to start them out young so that they grow up knowing that they are responsible for some of the household duties. It’s easier for them to accept this responsibility when it has been there all along.

Another thing to remember is not to redo their work when they’re around. Praise them for the work they’ve done. If it isn’t done to your standards, redo it at a later time. If they see you redoing the work they’ve already done, it’s easy for them to get discouraged knowing it didn’t meet your standards. Next time they are given the same responsibility, gently direct them on how to complete the task correctly. Eventually, they will get it.

To make sure you have everything you need to get a jump start on your spring cleaning, head to Walmart to pick up all your spring cleaning supplies. The Kimberly-Clark Family Care Walmart site makes it easy to stock up on your favorite paper spring cleaning essentials. Give your home the proper post-winter refresh it deserves by stocking up on Viva, Cottonelle and Scott products.

We’ve been using Viva Vantage and we like how the scrubby texture helps us tackle those tough messes. Viva offers a choice of two types of everyday towels that work like cloth to stand up to any cleaning job. Viva Vantage is more like terrycloth, where as Viva Towels are more like an undershirt. But you don’t need them both, just one will work because they both tackle those tough messes around the house.

Need more cleaning tips? I’ve got you covered:

Do you have any other tips for how to get the kids to help with spring cleaning?