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Cleaning Up:  Cheerios Everywhere - Teaching kids to clean up.  |
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JimBobAndLarry
Farmgirl in Training
39 Posts
Sarah
Fortville
IN
USA
39 Posts |
 Posted - May 29 2005 : 06:46:50 AM
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This morning I woke up the gleeful naughty squeals of four small children. And there are cheerios everywhere. This hasn't happened in a while. Any tips for teaching children to clean up their own messes. They make messes in an instant and then could take five hours to do a bad job of cleaning up. It's kind of funny, later. I didn't know they could reach the cheerios. I didn't know they were up so early. I do need to teach my kids to be better helpers any ideas. What jobs do you think a Six year old boy can do? A Five year old girl? A Three year old girl? A Two year old girl?
"Jim-Bob&Larry is the name of my daughter's new laying hen. My little girl is three and she came up with the name all by herself. I'm Sarah." |
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bramble
True Blue Farmgirl
2044 Posts
2044 Posts |
Posted - May 29 2005 : 12:39:22 PM
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A small broom and dustpan went a long way around here! The dust buster thing gets rave reviews now and always (hey, it's a start for the little guys!) We did once experience a dozen eggs perfectly cracked on the kitchen floor because he wanted to see if each one had a "sunshine" inside of it. I guess our worst was the day we had to go for his first year check up and he had gotten into my permanent ad markers for work. He had drawn stripes across his arms and legs head to toe and across his face. This is PERMANENT marker and we had to go to the dr. With the straightest face the doctor could muster said, "Well who have we got here?" to which my son replied " I a stripey tiger o'course!" The doctor responded with "Would the stripey tiger's mother care to contribute anything?" I felt like a naughty child at the principles office! They keep us busy,and laughing these crazy monkey children! Clean is temporary, happy lasts a whole lot longer!
with a happy heart |
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MeadowLark
True Blue Farmgirl
2206 Posts
USA
2206 Posts |
Posted - May 29 2005 : 4:10:18 PM
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I kept a toy broom and dust pan for my girls in the kitchen. They would see Mom cleaning up with the big broom and pan and would join in using their own pint size things. We would make it a game at first then before long they would want to sweep their own messes. The Dust Buster could work for boys perhaps. I had special little cheerios holders...Yellow plastic round things kind of like a sippy cup. Did'nt put many in it and it would be hard for them to spill them. The cabinets were off limits!
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." Rumi, 13th century. |
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JimBobAndLarry
Farmgirl in Training
39 Posts
Sarah
Fortville
IN
USA
39 Posts |
Posted - May 30 2005 : 8:01:16 PM
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Thanks! It's so fun to be part of this group to hear all your ideas and discover what you have learned!
"Jim-Bob&Larry is the name of my daughter's new laying hen. My little girl is three and she came up with the name all by herself. I'm Sarah." |
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Eileen
True Blue Farmgirl
1199 Posts
Eileen
USA
1199 Posts |
Posted - May 31 2005 : 09:49:50 AM
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We started with folding the laundry! What fun. It was never perfect bu it was so much fun to see them try to "Help Mommie" I always put their efforts away along with my own so that they knew I approved of their help. As they grew more able I added things like setting the table and standing on a stool to hand me the dirty dishes to wash. Then on to the dish towel and so on. Sometimes dish doing was a real assembly line at our house. I would wash, one would hand me the dishes, one would dry and one would be in charge of putting away. Sometimes it would end up in a game.
As they got older I set up what was called a chores list. I had a group of things that each child was responsble for each day and a group of items that they took turns with. On the chart i put little boxes where they earned stickers for the day as they completed and checked off each item on their daily list. The ones that were shared jobs we gave them points for a special trip or movie or icecream, or a movie night. We checked out a big projector from the library and big reel movies to see on movie night so it was always the hands down winner when it came to the treat night.
It was funny, I came across my master sheets in the ceder chest a couple of weeks ago while looking for something I wanted to give my grandson. My daughter took one look at them and said, "You kept these?"
Eileen
songbird; singing joy to the earth |
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jpbluesky
True Blue Farmgirl
6066 Posts
Jeannie
Florida
USA
6066 Posts |
Posted - May 31 2005 : 12:13:43 PM
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With my daughter, and now also with my grand-daughter, we "play" clean-up before nap. It helps in getting mentally ready for naptime, too. We sing a song called "Clean-up Clean-up, now we're going to clean-up" and we put all toys away and clean up from lunch, etc. Then down for a nap and a quiet house, and one in which, momentarily at least, the toys are resting, too!
jpbluesky
Heaven gives its glimpses only to those
Not in position to look too close.
from "A Passing Glimpse" by Robert Frost |
Edited by - jpbluesky on May 31 2005 12:16:14 PM |
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sugar1
Farmgirl in Training
19 Posts
Diane
Fostoria
MI
USA
19 Posts |
Posted - Jun 02 2005 : 3:45:44 PM
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I have a friend who did what she called a "two minute tidy" with her toddlers. It was a game to see how much they could clean up in two minutes. She usually sang a silly song while they cleaned. As they got older she changed it to a ten minute tidy instead. This friend is a wonder with small children, and it never seemed to fail when she did it. I plan to do it with my wee one when she is old enough--she is only five weeks old right now. As it is, I find myself doing ten minute tidys now before bed. Somehow it's more fun than "straightening up"! |
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quiltedess
True Blue Farmgirl
296 Posts
Nancy
Priest River
ID
USA
296 Posts |
Posted - Jun 02 2005 : 6:07:47 PM
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One of my favorite web sites for helping children and ourselves conquer housework is www.flylady.net
The best thing for kids it to be a good example, set a timer so they know there is an ending time (they'll probably try to beat it) but if the timer beeps and you don't think it's a good job, you can do a better job on it later if you want. Chores should be as fun as possible. FlyLady says: "You are never behind, just jump in where you are"; and "Housework done imperfectly still blesses your family"
And BTW, I really love "Jim-Bob&Larry". When my oldest was very young he had three imaginary friends: Apricot Bingko, Roto-rooter, and John. :-)
Nancy |
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JoyIowa
True Blue Farmgirl
273 Posts
Joy
273 Posts |
Posted - Jun 04 2005 : 2:47:59 PM
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Ditto on the flylady.com site! Life has been oh so much better since I started two years ago. Do I do everything? No, Do I do some things? Yes! And that's wonderful as I used to not tackle anything unless I had time to do it all perfectly! She calls it "stinkin thinkin" I must say I now agree. And I love to fly!
JoyIowa
To live without farm life is merely existing, to live with farm life is living life to it very last experience. |
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connio
True Blue Farmgirl
535 Posts
connie
springtown
texas
USA
535 Posts |
Posted - Jun 04 2005 : 3:28:56 PM
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Love the Fly Lady. Although I don't follow her on a daily basis, she is always on my mind and has made a big difference in my household!
Connie
cozycottage |
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Aunt Jenny
True Blue Farmgirl
11381 Posts
Jenny
middle of
Utah
USA
11381 Posts |
Posted - Jun 04 2005 : 3:38:25 PM
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I try to "fly" too!!!
I have a chore "board" for my kids. There are 4 of them so we rotate four jobs..there is a pegboard with the job name over the peg board and little name tags that I hang on each peg. The jobs change on Saturday morning and it works pretty well..right now the four jobs are TRash helper, pet helper, bathroom helper and kitchen helper. I have a short list of duties that go with each job posted by the back door and they check it and make sure they are done. It works for us. They also cannot turn the tv on until the beds are ALL made. That one I LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jenny in Utah
Bloom where you are planted! |
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Kim
True Blue Farmgirl
146 Posts
Kim
Pflugerville
Texas
USA
146 Posts |
Posted - Jun 05 2005 : 10:27:18 AM
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FlyLady is awesome!
farmgirl@heart
Be at peace with yourself and the rest will follow |
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Cleaning Up: Cheerios Everywhere - Teaching kids to clean up. |
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Cheerios Everywhere - Teaching kids to clean up.
