Cleaning the nursery isn’t difficult; keeping it organized and dirt-free is. Unless you’re thrilled by the idea of cleaning your child’s room every weekend until they’ve grown old enough to move out, you’ll need to come up with a game plan on the easiest and most efficient ways to keep the nursery spick, span, and lovely all around – and if you want to hit the parenting jackpot, you can also try and introduce your child to basic home maintenance habits that will last them a lifetime. Don’t know how to pull it off? Fret not: here are a few tips to help set nursery cleanup and your child’s home upkeep habits on the clean track.
1. No dirty laundry in sight, thank you
With kids onboard, dirty laundry sprawled across the floors, bed, and chairs is a pretty common sight – but it doesn’t have to be if you know how to work around it. To prevent large-scale dirty laundry infestations in the nursery, get a plastic laundry basket, put it in one corner of the room, and tell your child to dump their dirty clothes in it. It may take a while for you to see the fruit of your cleanliness preaching labor, but with a little cooperation and patience, your kid will soon be disposing of their dirty laundry the right (and parent-friendly) way.
2. Clean, stored, delivered from mess
Another common problem with kids is that they seldom fold and put away clean clothes as soon as you’ve told them to do so. In the worst case scenario, you may even wind up picking up clean laundry from the floor – or tripping over it. To make sure your child puts away clean clothes sans fussing and delay, rethink the floor plan and see whether the nursery storage units are arranged in line with the junior’s ease of use. Ideally, clothes your child wears every day should be placed within their reach, and all other clothing can be stored on top shelves.
3. No clutter on the premises, please
Kids grow fast, and their room can easily end up packed with clothes, toys, and other belongings they neither use nor need. For this reason, it may be a smart idea to set aside a weekend at least once every few months to go through your kid’s possessions together with them and see if there are any items you can donate to charity, and throw away those that belong in the bin. Find reliable removalists from Brisbane to get rid of all the clutter and enjoy the relaxing space you created with your child.
4. Practice the cleanliness you preach
If your child doesn’t seem to take in home maintenance lessons you’re trying to get them to pick up, it may be a smart idea to pause for a moment and check if you’re practicing the cleanliness you preach. Kids are like sponges: they copy adults’ behavior, so if you’re putting off cleaning, laundry and dishes until the last minute, don’t be surprised if you see your tiny version doing the same. If you want to brush up your kids’ housekeeping game, include them in the whole-family chore roster: it’ll teach them why it’s important for them to keep their room shipshape.
5. Gamify room cleaning experience
While little kids will be more willing to cooperate in the room maintenance drill, an average teen might not show the same level of cleanup enthusiasm. That’s where the good, old gamification trick can do wonders: few teenagers will refuse to clean up their space if the extra effort entails a prize that’s valuable for them, such as a ticket to their favorite band’s concert or an extra hour of party time on Fridays and Saturdays. Still, bear in mind that cleanup gamification with teens can set your finances back down the road, so use it only as a last resort if all other tricks fail.
Keeping the nursery shipshape isn’t a mission impossible if you have what it takes to make your child pick up cleanliness-oriented habits – and if you’re still here, you now do. Ready, steady, go, and help your little angel grow up into a house-proud adult who knows that a neat home means one worry less – and lots of comfort more. Good luck!