I've written before about kids and chores and the developmental importance of getting them working. It seems as parents, we frequently underestimate what our children are capable of doing. At least, I know I do. I've been asked to write more about chores for kids, so I'll tell you about how we do things in the Frowzy house. With 6 kids, there is a lot of work to be done, but luckily there are also a lot of hands to do it. This week, I taught our 5 year old, Fiona how to wash floors. What I love about our Floor Care Kit is that the cleaner, of course, is completely safe for kids to use AND the microfiber mop has a telescoping handle that shrinks it down to kid size.
First, the floor has to be swept really thoroughly. My 5 year old is not quite up to snuff on this part, so I followed behind her showing her how to angle the broom to get along the baseboards etc.
Second, I got the mop head wet and then wrung out. I then had Fiona squirt a small amount of Simply Floored around a small section of the floor. (People are surprised at how little you use. If you are getting streaks, you are using too much!)
Third, I showed her how to mop back and forth with each stroke overlapping the last. This is hardest part for kids to get the hang of. They want to just mop all willy-nilly, and teaching them to use a pattern is the key. Squirting a line across the section is a good way to get them used to that pattern because they'll mop back and forth until all of the line is gone.
Fourth, though Simply Floored does not require rinsing, we were washing our kitchen floor which gets especially dirty. So, we rinsed our mop and then did another quick sweep of the floor.
Fiona will probably need direction a couple more times, but she was doing a great job by the end of floor. It takes a little extra work on our part in the beginning, but I'm glad to soon have another child that I can just assign "Mop Kitchen Floor" to and not have to worry about it.