It’s “Spooktacular” season, but don’t let the little gremlins get the best of your cleaning tasks. Instead, consider recruiting your kiddie ghouls to lend a helping hand. Here’s a few neat little tricks that can help:
Treats do just the trick
You don’t have to play the carrot-or-stick approach, but incentives give little ghosts something to look forward to at the end of tasks they might not enjoy doing – especially if those tasks involve gathering their toys or putting away the Halloween candy stash. An incentive like a festive little trinket or celebratory dance party might do the trick.
Play pretend
Halloween costumes can be useful for more than one day out of the year. Have everyone wear their costumes again and play pretend while they help tidy up. Kids can clean according to their adopted roles. Pirates can find “lost treasure” while Paw Patrol characters can “sniff out” any junk lying around the house.
Pump up the music
Have every family member pick a favorite party song. Blast the tunes while you’re cleaning so it feels like a fun party instead of a tedious chore. Choosing fast-paced rhythms will also help dial up the good times and remixing songs with lyrics about cleaning up will keep the kids laughing.
Encourage shorter cleaning sessions
Even the most pumped up ghouls might not like to clean all afternoon. Parcel out the chores into fixed time increments so the enthusiasm for cleaning doesn’t fade out quickly. Don’t try to do too much in one session either. Keeping ambitions modest might give everyone a stronger sense of achievement at the end of the day.
Organize even further
What are you going to do after cleaning up all the pumpkin seeds? Where does the candy that nobody likes go after you’ve organized it all? Here are some tips: Have little ones scoop out seeds on a baking tray and roast them to eat later. The seeds pack a nutrition punch and kids will appreciate them more if they have personally invested time in “cooking” the end result. Sort out candy nobody really loves, if there is such a thing, and make a plan to drop off at the local dentist office or other outlet that will accept them.
Cleaning can be made fun and adding some Halloween-themed elements will make it especially so during one of kids’ favorite holidays.
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