There's a Price To Be Paid

A price must be paid to teach children to clean and work hard. Below are a few of the many THINGS that have suffered in order to train my kids:

My vacuum. I love my vacuum. It has been broken in 3 different places by children treating it badly while doing their jobs. So sad, but so worth it. Luckily it still functions as a vacuum, regardless of its broken parts.
Cleaning supplies aren't cheap. At least not the ones I like. And you can count on kids to use 3+ times more than they actually need to do the job, especially if it comes in a fun spray bottle. Count on it. Expect to pay for lots of supplies and it will be easier to take. Buy in bulk.
I love Clorox toilet cleaner with bleach. Unfortunately, kids aren't very good at aiming where it is supposed to go and, instead of bleaching the toilet, they end up bleaching the walls and rugs and the fronts of their shirts. Same with soft-scrub. I've painted the walls in the bathroom pictured below repeatedly to cover up the bleach marks, but appently it's just too darn hard to keep the cleaner in the toilet! Is it worth it? Absolutely! My kids can clean toilets like nobody's business.
Incidentally, kids don't generally become good at these things on their own. I've been asked by lots of people how my kids became so good at cleaning and working hard. First and foremost, I have to note that I've been blessed with wonderful kids. That helps a lot. As far as parenting goes, here's my current philosphy for anyone that's interested:

• I think by the time the child is ONE they can start learning by putting toys away (bath toys into a container or books into a basket, etc.). It's best if this is part of their routine - it's not optional, it's just part of what one does before getting out of the bath or playing with toys.)
  
• By 18 MONTHS they can take their own diaper to the garbage can (and other garbage, too, of course).
• By TWO years old they can take their dirty dishes to the dishwasher or sink. Make sure they aren't breakable.
  
• By age THREE kids can learn to make their own beds (roughly), take out the garbage (with help) and follow Mom around the house to "help" with all sorts of chores: changing laundry, washing walls, sweeping floors, etc., etc. Three is the perfect age to build the child's love of helping. Toddlers thrive on praise and the more you give it, the more they'll perform for you.
  
• FOUR-year-olds can be persuaded to work by making it into a game. Time them to see how fast they can do it or have them try to find all the things that are made out of paper to put away or if they can sing and scrub at the same time, etc., etc. The sillier the better. Then as soon as they play the game, you praise them like crazy and talk about how big and amazing they are.
  
• Age FIVE is all about responsibility. They are real-live contributing members of the family and need to know how important they are. They're needed! What would you ever do without them? They will rise to what you expect of them. Another trick: try reverse psychology: you're sure they couldn't do ____; they just aren't old enough yet! They'll prove you wrong 9 times out of 10.
• Somewhere around age SEVEN kids figure out that it's not quite as fun as you've been making it out to be. Hopefully you've been working hard to teach them how to work hard for the first six or seven years so that they'll have the training they need by the time the gimmicks no longer work.
  

What happens if you don't start teaching them to work by age 5? Well, you're going to have to work really hard to get them enthused if you wait too long. My opinion is that if you haven't been teaching them up until this point, you can try the aforementioned ideas, but chances are you'll have to negotiate with them (i.e. you do your jobs, you get privileges) or lay down the law that a certain amount is expected of them and then really enforce it consistently.

It's going to be a big pain to teach them how to do lots of different things, but it will be worth it. You can do it! It will be worth it in the end! If you haven't gotten started yet, what are you waiting for? The longer you wait, the harder it will be. I promise.

More great ideas by me:

• You've got to be consistent. They need to know it's not negotiable.
  
• Don't give them a job unless you're willing to make them do it. They're going to try to weasel their way out of work now and then. They're testing you to see if you're still serious.
• Make sure they get experience doing a wide variety of jobs - housework, yard work, service for others, etc. It's part of your job to teach them to take care of their home and yard and to work hard so that when they grow up they'll be great employees and spouses and parents.
• They have to be shown how to do the work. You have to be willing to work alongside the kids for a long, long time. It would be easier to do the work yourself most of the time, but in the long run it will be worth all the training you're giving them. Think of it like a savings account - you have to put a lot into it before you start to see big profits.
• When you're working together, don't complain about working. Talk about how fun it is, or how it feels great to work hard or that you love to see how much better it looks when you're done...stuff like that. When you do service, talk about how excited you are to be doing something to help someone else and that you're able to make their life easier, etc. You're trying to convey that work can be pleasant and rewarding and even fun. Don't let them hear that you're dreading a job or hate doing a certain job. This is important.
• You've got to be Quality Control. Inspect the job when it's finished until you can trust them to do good work, then inspect on a less regular basis. They'll try to get by with shoddy work, but you can't let them. Even though it's easier to fix it yourself, you have to make them come back and fix it so they know it's harder to do lousy work and have to fix it than to do it right to begin with.
• A side benefit of teaching kids to care for the home and yard: they'll hopefully learn to treat the home and yard with respect and appreciate how hard it is to do what you do all the time...you know, before they're parents themselves. This is unlikely, but probably possible.
  

Well, I'm all out of words of wisdom for now. I'll add more later if I think of anything interesting.