As a parent, it can be a real chore to keep your home clean with your kids around. It can be so frustrating that it leads to increased stress and anxiety.
One solution to consider is looking into asking your little ones for help! Decluttering with your kids means that you are teaching them how to stay organised, which is a skill that will benefit them in the future.
Furthermore, it is not easy to educate them on this; getting rid of our own belongings is always much easier than trying to clean our children’s bedrooms.
Here are some tips that you can pick up to start your decluttering journey together with the little ones!
Start decluttering with the kids
It will be very difficult to ask your kids to declutter with you right off the bat. Instead, the best thing you can do is to get started first. The best time to start is when they are asleep or not home.
The goal is to clean up and pack their bedrooms and belongings as much as possible for a start.
Fret not! Once their bedrooms are almost fully decluttered, they will naturally get more involved in the process.
Know your kids
Different children have different attention spans and attachment levels. So, it is important to know who will have a more challenging time letting go of things and who will be less emotional about it.
Make sure to set aside time to talk to your children about the process and why it is important.
For children with shorter attention spans, you might want to cater a routine or reward them when they complete the task to encourage them to partake in the activity.
Sometimes, your youngest child will need supervision and guidance. It will be good to go through the belongings together as a form of encouragement.
It is very important to recognise the emotions that they will go through during the decluttering process. Let them know you understand that it is not easy to say goodbye to the things that we once loved, but also remind them that by getting rid of the old, they can make room for the new!
Implement a system
When it comes to teaching kids your children how to declutter, it is vital to have a simple system for them to follow.
One toy in, one toy out
You can always make use of the one toy in one toy out system. Cultivate the habit with your children of always putting one toy away before they can take out the next.
Not only does this keep the space organised, it will also help them learn some responsibility and life skills for the future!
Label toy storage boxes
Labelling the toy storage boxes makes it easy for your child to clear away items after using them. The most common thing that discourages your child from decluttering is that they do not know where the storage boxes are.
For younger kids, you can also consider using pictures or photographs to show them where exactly the item belongs. You can even take a picture of what an area will look like when it is perfectly organised for your child to refer to when they are cleaning up.
Reward your child for decluttering
The one strategy that works most often is to reward your child when they accomplish a task! This works exceptionally well for kids who have a hard time letting go of their belongings.
Does your child have something that they desperately want to get? You can make a deal with them to declutter the home for it! Once you have struck a deal with them, you’ll be surprised at how fast they can clean and pack the house.
You can also choose to create a point system to reward them with points each time they clean and pack their room. Once they achieve a certain amount of points, they can exchange them for a toy that they want badly.
Lead by example
All kids are natural at imitating what they see and hear. By keeping your house tidy and clearing clutter regularly, your child will naturally follow in your footsteps over time.
As such, it is important to lead by example and always keep the house tidy and clean. If there are items that you no longer need, donate or recycle them.
Make use of self-storage
If there are any items that your child wants to keep, but it is cluttering up the house, why not make use of self-storage?
At Extra Space Asia, we offer a wide range of affordable storage spaces to cater to your every need.
