Kids – the eternal clean-up mission
They run around your feet, catapult their meals across rooms for a laugh, leave more toys lying around than Santa’s workshop and trail mud over your carpets like excitable pooches running in from the back garden.
You love your kids to bits – but, crikey, they don’t half make a mess.
Trying to keep your home clean with a couple of sprogs running around is like trying to kick water uphill – it ain’t gonna happen.
Yet, that doesn’t make it an impossible task. While you might not be able to keep the place prim and proper like you could when you were childless, it is possible to gain order amongst your chaos.
To give you a helping hand, we’ve come up with a few ideas to give your home that extra sheen.
The MATter at hand
The kids are at it again – splashing in puddles, rolling around in muck and terrorising the back garden’s geraniums; and it’s messing up your carpets.
Your kids won’t ever learn cleanliness if they aren’t forced to, so get the right tools together and teach them.
Invest in a few dirt trapper mats and get your kids to scrape all the muck from their feet. This might take a little persuasion before they learn properly, so give them a treat for every successful attempt at clean shoes.
Also, create a specific space where your kids’ coats and shoes can go, and ensure that the pegs are low enough for them to reach. If you can make the process fun, you’ll have your kids cleaning up their own mess without a second thought.
Their space, your space
You go into the living room and it’s covered in muck. You head into the kitchen and are met with a mound of crayons. So you seek solace in the bathroom and find a parade of toys lined up before you.
There is no escape!
At least, not unless you can find a space that’s your own. If you’ve got a spare room, why not make that a clean space exclusively designed for you to chill out?
Fill it with any hobbies you have, use calming wallpaper and buy a decent settee to lay back on. That way, when you’ve finally got the kids to sleep, you’ll be able to enjoy a room unsullied by LEGO bricks and Iggle Piggle.
Let kids know cleaning is fun
Cleaning is very dull, isn’t it? But, at least while your kids are young, you can convince the sprogs otherwise.
Sweeten them up with the promise of treats and you’ll have a little helper who’ll clear away their toys and muck – but only if you can make it seem like it has a sense of play about it.
Ultimately, be a fun-loving parent – you’ll miss your kid’s mess when it’s gone.
Written by Paul Watson / Image credit: Messy kids room with clothes in a drawer (modified) Shutterstock / Horizontal view of mess in a kids room Shutterstock
Anna Marikar, mum of four and seasoned blogger, has spent over a decade sharing her parenting journey and passion for kid-friendly crafts and free printables.
Her easy-to-follow craft ideas and practical parenting advice have transformed In The Playroom into a cherished resource for parents.
I love the idea of a room where only you get to use to relax instead of having a room for your kids and hope they will only make a mess there. Thanks for sharing these awesome tips.