You’re a busy parent facing an uphill battle against child-induced mess and stained laundry. Rather than keeping the children occupied with toys or colouring books so you can catch up on housework, get them involved! You can spend time together as a family and it’ll help you out whilst getting your little ones into good cleaning habits.
Here are some top tips from the team at ACE to transform a mundane and repetitive task into something that might even be enjoyable!
Make a game of it
Sorting laundry into lights and darks, sorting laundry by who it belongs to, folding, pairing socks and putting everything away. Not very exciting, until you make it a race or a competition.
Can your family sort clothes into lights and darks in under 60 seconds? Set a realistic time based on their age and amount of laundry, then give them a reward if they beat the clock.
Spread all the odd (clean) socks out on the floor, remove one on purpose and race to pair them up. Whoever ends up with the odd sock at the end has to put them all away!
Give everyone equal piles of freshly cleaned clothes and race to get them folded or sorted by family member. Again – the slowest has to put them all away.
Let them help
Lots of children’s toys have buttons and things that twist and turn. Setting up the washing machine or tumble dryer to the right setting with light up buttons and clicky dials will likely hold more joy for a toddler than you. As they get older, they’ll know how to put on a load all by themselves.
Likewise, don’t forget the toys. If your children love taking care of their cuddly toys and dolls, pop them/their clothes into a mesh bag to stop them getting lost and add them to the wash (we recommend checking labels to make sure they won’t get destroyed!). A vested interest in their playthings will keep the children interested in the washing process.
If you have a set day or time to do laundry in bulk, add music or a movie while you’re all sorting and folding. Singing, dancing, watching a film or just talking will make it go much quicker! If you have a few children, let whoever has the least amount of laundry in their own basket pick the entertainment. This helps them be a little mindful about getting clothes dirty and not getting changed more than they need to.
Do you have any more tips for getting the family involved in housework? Share them with us in the comments below!
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