Growing up, my parents kept my sister and me busy during summers by giving each summer a theme. We had a summer of baking pies, a summer of afternoon naps (wonder who that was for), a summer of forts, and a summer of cleaning. Surprisingly, the summer of cleaning was one of my favorites!
Each day of the summer my mom wrote down "jobs" on little pieces of paper and put them in a bowl where my sister and I would randomly choose. These papers had household jobs like vacuuming, washing dishes, dusting, helping mom cook dinner, and also fun tasks like reading for 30 minutes, playing outside, watching a TV show, or eating a piece of chocolate. My sister and I are both very competitive, so we would try to accomplish all the tasks each day. This rush of competition drove us to finish a ton of chores throughout the summer. Sometimes we would have to ask our mom what she wanted us to dust or how to use the vacuum cleaner, but after that we were off to the races!
I loved seeing how happy it made my mom when I finished one of the tasks, and it taught me that cleaning can actually be fun. We would turn on music in the house and I would dance while I picked up my toys or wiped down countertops.
This turned out to be a genius idea by my mom because she kept her kids busy and accomplished her summer cleaning all while we were having fun.
Try this idea with your kids this summer. Make sure to teach them how to use your Riccar before you put "vacuuming" into your bowl!
