Independent play and cleaning: 4 easy steps to success!
One question I frequently receive is how I manage to clean with my daughter without relying too much on television as entertainment. Instead, my daughter and I spend cleaning and home maintenance time together, either working side by side or me working and my daughter playing independently. Today I thought I would share some tips on cleaning with your kids in hopes that this becomes a little less daunting.
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Independent play
What is independent play? It’s simply time when your child plays by themselves instead of with parents and sometimes siblings.
Helping your child learn how to play independently can make your household chores and cleaning so much easier. By introducing the concept of independent play to your children now and helping them foster a love for it, your cleaning schedule can be completed much quicker.
Start now
My daughter has been beside me while I clean from day one. I would move her playmat with me around our home as I tackled my daily or weekly chores. She would happily play (for the most part) on her back or tummy and I was able to get my cleaning done. As she got older, she naturally demanded more of my attention, so I needed to figure out a way that we could both be happy.
One piece of advice I give to parents looking to incorporate cleaning with their children is to start immediately. Don’t wait for them to be a bit older or for circumstances to be perfect. Simply start now, with what you have.
Slowly introduce the concept of independent play
Children are naturally used to being the center of attention to their parents, so when our attention and focus is elsewhere chaos and frustration can ensue. When first introducing the concept of being part of a cleaning routine with the parent it’s important to recognize that this time will look different for both of you. Instead of having your child watch TV while you tackle the chores (nothing wrong with that! I do that too) in record time, your cleaning routine will take longer because the child or children will need attention. Totally normal, this is a give and take situation, like always. If you want your child to either work with you to learn how to maintain their home (I’ll go into this subject more in another blog post) or if you want them to play more independently, you need to give up speed cleaning for the time being.
Below are 4 tips to help you on this new adventure!
Simply start by discussing with your children what will be changing. Get everyone excited about spending this time together to take care of their spaces and playing independently. This conversation shouldn’t be depressing for you or your kiddos. Get pumped this is going to be a game changer I promise!
Decide on a time and day that you will be tackling chores. This could be a daily event or maybe just on the weekends, that’s totally up to you and your schedule. Let everyone know when this time will be so there are no surprises. Again, discuss it, talk about it during your week, make it part of your daily conversation with your kids. Figure out what music you will listen to, what type of independant play your children are excited to take part in during this time.
Set up an invitation to play. Take a couple of minutes before your specific cleaning routine and set out a couple of activities for them, or an “invitation to play”. This could be puzzles, books, soft toys, whatever they may be interested at the time. I would suggest staying away from any possibly messy activities such as painting or water table play, which I have found to be a bit of a disaster.
Interruptions will happen. Especially during the first several weeks of building this new habit, interruptions will occur. Children will fight or argue between themselves and you will need to interject. Toddlers will get frustrated because somethings not working and you will need to fix it. That’s gonna happen and it’s okay! Over time everyone will get used to this new routine and things will go smoother and quicker. Children will learn how to play independently and will look forward to this time of day or week I promise.
Side note: My daughter enjoys cleaning with me occasionally, and your children may opt to help you clean instead of independent play. That’s wonderful and I fully encourage it! I make my own natural cleaning products in our home, so when my daughter does clean with me I am not concerned with chemicals or fumes. If, in your home, you use chemical cleaners I suggest children stick to cleaning tasks that don’t involved any cleaners.
Click here for my cleaning recipes!
My daughter’s favorite task is helping me wash floors
I have been employing these techniques since my daughter was a baby and we are at a point now, as I mentioned above, that she will happily help with a couple of chores. For the remainder of the time when I’m cleaning my daughter will play independently, drawing or using her imagination and sometimes will continue on long past my cleaning is completed!
Are you on a journey of encouraging independent play? Let me know in the comments!
Check out these articles for more inspiration on helping your child to learn to play independently!
