Cleaning is one of the biggest concerns at home for health when we have young children. It is not about turning the home into a sterile bubble, much less, since a little dirt in children could be beneficial, but maintaining hygiene habits necessary for a healthy daily life.

We will talk about some keys to keep the house clean with children and prove that it is not an impossible mission.

Here at Clean & Clean you will find a team of professionals dedicated to leave your place completely spotless after a deep cleaning.

Rethink routines

When children arrive, keeping clean at home as we did before is very difficult because they demand a lot of our time and because, logically, they get dirty and messy. Therefore, what we must do is to rethink the cleaning routines at home.

The key is to organise and know how to take advantage of the time, such as cleaning when the baby takes a nap or when the children go to school.

You can make a weekly homework calendar. A resource that works well for me, although you have to know how to be flexible because with children you never know, it is to create an organization chart by areas of the house. For example, Monday: bathroom, Tuesday: lounge, Wednesday: rooms, etc.

Thus, it is done a little every day and the cleaning beating is avoided one day of the weekend. Of course, if the floor or bathroom gets dirty, it is cleaned, even from one day to another.

Safety precautions with young children

Some toxic products such as bleach, ammonia, bath cleaners, furnaces, disinfectants give off vapours and harmful gases, therefore they should not be used in the presence of small children.

Of course, cleaning products should be kept out of reach of children, in high or closed places with obstacles that they cannot open.

The poisoning by domestic toxic products is the second most frequent cause of intoxication in childhood, therefore the safety at the time of keeping them is essential, as well as knowing how to act if by accident the child ingests some cleaning product.

House clean but not sterilised

We are increasingly accustomed to advertising claims such as “total disinfection”, “bactericidal power”, and that may be fine for an operating room, but it is not necessary to reach such extremes in a home, it is enough to have the house neat, controlling dirt and the foci of infection.

Humans have always lived with bacteria, and to some extent, that has helped create a strong immune system.

Children can help cleaning

We can involve children in household chores since they are young, because it is important to teach them to collaborate in chores, so that they understand that it is not just about “helping mom”, but that it is everyone’s business.

At first, they will take it as a game, but little by little we can explain how they are done, with patience and trusting that they will do well. From passing a cloth to vacuuming the floor, assigning tasks with increasing responsibility, according to their age and possibilities.

Familiarising them with household chores is something that will help them for the rest of their lives, in addition to making them feel involved and useful as a family member.

Educate with your own example

We cannot pretend that our children are clean if we are not. Children learn many things and behaviours by copying the behaviours they see in their parents. For this reason, if you want your child to be a clean and tidy individual, you should avoid clutter, the accumulation of dirty dishes on the counter, you should brush your teeth after meals …

In this way, your children will begin to copy these good habits and make them their own.

Let everything be a game

One of the best ways to encourage and teach children is through play. If you turn each action into something interesting and fun, it will be much easier for your children to carry them out and little by little they will acquire those habits. This can be achieved through songs that encourage children and emphasize the importance of washing their hands or teeth, for example.

It is also good to make a billboard with daily goals to meet (brush your teeth, help set the table, water the plants) and use a prize system for each goal.

Everything has a reason

As we teach our children to take care of their cleanliness and the cleanliness of their surroundings, we must explain why the importance of these habits. You have to convey the concept of health and illness and explain why they are related to good personal hygiene. The only way to explain these issues is through information.

We can use books with explanatory drawings, we can use videos and images to transmit the information. To take into account that visual stimuli are the most useful in the early years of childhood.

Children as cleaning assistants 

Once naturalised habits of personal cleanliness and their spaces. We can ask our children for help cleaning the house. A good idea is in principle to make a list of activities that can be carried out with your help. (For example, put the cutlery inside the pothole at the end of the meals, clean the table, rinse the pet’s water containers, etc.).

Then, continuing with the game idea. We can ask our children to help us with some task in exchange for a prize (for example, more play time in the park, etc.). For children it will be a fun activity and unconsciously they will be internalizing good cleaning habits for their life.

Now you know. Early education in hygiene habits is very important for the development and personal health of your children. Put into practice any of the mentioned strategies. You will see how your children begin to get used to performing these actions. And they grow healthy and independent.

Following these tips will help you that cleaning the house with children does not become an impossible mission, but a task that, although sometimes ungrateful, is a necessary gesture to take care of your family’s health.

The most appropriate solution to make sure your place is impeccable is to select cleaning companies such as Clean & Clean, the real experts in this area.