Easy Tricks to Help Keep Your House Clean when You Have Children

Although it is close to impossible to keep a house clean when you have children, these easy cleaning tricks may help cut down on some of the mess and grime and begin to teach kids to take some of the responsibility for clean up or mess prevention.

Wall Cleaning Tricks

Children seem to be drawn to dirt like magnets to steel. If kids are not supposed to get something they are using on the walls, inevitably they will. When you paint a room, write down the paint name and color in case of massive wall accidents when Johnny or Suzie decide it is a good idea to try out their new markers on the walls. For smaller touch ups, keep small sealable containers filled with paint for each room and a foam craft paintbrush with each container. Label the jars with the room name and store them where you have easy access to get to the paint quickly. When one of the kids gets spots on the wall that you cannot wipe or wash off, you will be able to fix it easily without repainting the whole wall.

If your small kids are messy eaters or get their hands in everything, teach them to walk to the sink hands in the air to keep temptation from running fingers along the wall at bay until they have cleaned up. Make a game out of the practice so they learn the technique.

Carpets and Floors

In some cultures, it is common to remove your street shoes when you come into a home. It is a practice that makes sense, both for health and hygiene reasons. Keep the carpets cleaner and give them a longer life span by not tracking the dirt into the house to begin with. Kids are not the only ones who have things sticking to their shoes that will muck up the carpets and floors that baby brother is crawling around on.

Remove shoes at the entryway. Provide cubbies or establish a specific spot to set the shoes after the kids remove them. Invest in some slippers or socks with non-slip bottoms that family members wear when they remove their shoes and return them to the cubbies or spot when they put their shoes back on to leave the house. Get a pair for each child and every adult and a few pairs for visitors. Get every family member into the routine at the entry door whether it is the front door or a garage door they enter.

Toys

To encourage children to clean up after they play with their toys, use open bins or baskets that make it easy for them to put their toys away quickly. Put the containers in low areas where they can pick up without fussing with containers they cannot manage or reach. This method provides a quick pick up alternative. You can sort toys into more specific containers at another time. This is a step to teach the kids how to clean up after themselves in a way they can actually succeed at the task. It may not be perfect organization but it is more doable and realistic for a kid told to go pick up his toys before dinner or an outing and a great deal neater than toys strewn all over the room. They are easy to slide into the closet to put out of sight if visitors or coming or you do not want the kids getting them out again later.

Designated Areas for Messes

Kids will be kids no matter how hard you try to make them into instant responsible beings. They should be allowed to make a mess on occasion. For extremely messy activities such as crafts or clay play, provide an area of the house where messy activities take place. Teach children to stay within the boundaries of that area if they want the privileges of making the mess. It may take awhile to learn but with supervision and reinforcement, they will remember. A spot at the kitchen table, a corner of a playroom set up with a removable area carpet that can be washed or an area on the patio or outside during good weather will work. If Suzie understands that area is specifically for messes when she gets into the paint you left on the counter or that tempting container of mommy's makeup, she might be more inclined to keep the mess in an area you can actually clean up if she knows there is a play area for messy activities.

Feed young kids where food belongs, in designated eating areas. Do not feed them all over the house. For very messy eaters or babies who love playing with their food and tossing it over the edge of the highchair in a carpeted dining room, put a mat under the messy eater's chair area to catch the inevitable spills and dropped food. It is easier to clean a removable mat than get stains off carpeting. It is cheaper to replace the washable mat than a whole room of carpeting.

Teach by Example

Practice what you preach. Small kids are mimics. If they hear you saying clean up after yourself but see mommy or daddy leaving messes all over, that sends them a mixed message. A younger child is more likely to try and copy what you do than listen to specific spoken rules for cleaning up. An older child might surprise you and throw it back at you if you are messy too. They learn what they see as well as hear.

Praise and Reinforcement

Praise them when they give it their best try even if it is not quite what you would ultimately like. If a child feels she can actually achieve something on her own she is more likely to repeat that again or try harder and feel like a contributing member of your family. If you berate her for not doing it perfectly clean up time may become more a battle than a routine.

Simple techniques to keep a house clean may not keep your home immaculate but it will help keep it livable and give the children achievable goals to begin to learn how to take care of their home surroundings.