Just Us Kids Online’s Blog

Do you find that you often sound like a broken record, when it comes to asking your kids to do their chores, or to clean up after themselves? Well, if they’re under say, 10, and are really not into the creepy crawlies, this trick might work. And I’m saying might, because, so far it does work in my house. For now.

Like many other parents (and I mean MUMS), I too struggle with having my kids tidy up their rooms, desks and even not to mess up the car with THEIR belongings. But, I can say for now – the bugs are in charge. Why? Well, the first incident happened in the car. I was asking my second daughter to put away the activity books that they had, in the slot at the back of the front passenger seat. Next thing I knew, she was screaming “BEE! BEE!” We found out that a wasp had stung her finger. Luckily it wasn’t serious and she was fine later on. And the wasp somehow must have been just as stunned as we all were. To that, I told the kids that it was all because of the fact that they would leave too much of their things in the car. And bugs LOVE messiness. So, from then on, they would take their rubbish and other belongings out (ok, I do have to remind them of the wasp) of the car.

Next incident was at home. Our encounter with another bug. The cockroach – not my favourite! In fact I’ve got a phobia of it from my childhood days. Having found it in the kitchen, mind you, not that the kitchen was dirty or messy; the four of us – my two girls, son and myself started screaming at this bug. Imagine four humans screaming at a little cockroach! So being the only adult in the house, I scrambled to the laundry and grabbed the insecticide. Yes, I think I used up nearly half of the can on that poor old bug. But it did go and meet it’s maker – eventually! Threw the bug into the bin and cleaned up the insecticide that was left behind on the floor. The fact that we came across the bug meant that now, the kids would clean up the bench tops after their breakfasts and snack WITHOUT whining, because they know that it’s better to do the chore than to face that “deadly” bug.

So parents out there, if your kids are afraid of cockroaches, wasps, bees, spiders, or whatever bugs, I say, use that to our advantage.

I don’t know if it happens in your house, but each time I ask my kids to clean up their room, desk, or put away their toys, I hear whinging, pure “awww….do we have to?” or “but that’s so boring!”. And then, I’ll hit them back with “imagine how I feel cleaning up YOUR things?” But, amazingly, they seem to do other chores with glee! Chores like doing the dishes, unloading the dishwasher, putting their folded/ironed clothes into their wardrobe, chores that I also abhor, ok, let’s face it, I just don’t enjoy doing any chores for that matter, especially when it doesn’t get appreciated. Not to say I want the family to say thank you, although that would be nice, BUT, to at least NOT mess it up within seconds of having them cleaned or put away. To not just roll up their clothes and dump it into their wardrobe after you have ironed and put them away nicely.

So, with this in mind, I thought, why not take advantage of the fact that they LOVE doing the chores I don’t really enjoy? Now, I manage to convince them to put their own clothes away, whenever I finish folding or ironing them. Especially since I recently re-organised their wardrobe. My 4 year old now helps me with unloading the dishwasher by passing me the dishes and cutlery and at times putting them away in the appropriate drawers!  Not only do I get my job done quicker, but the kids also feel a sense of importance being given jobs that they think are those that only adults can do. It also teaches a sense of responsibility, these are things we just HAVE to do anyway, so why not learn it earlier. Will it last? I don’t think so, but for now, I’ll take advantage of that thanks! Next on my list of things to delegate: dusting and the laundry.  Well, at least sorting the laundry first.