Monday Cleaning Day

Usual activities such as your cleaning day are easy to put on the back burner for a few days because motivation to “clean” is simply not there. Cleaning is down on most people’s “Not Fun!” list, including myself. Motivating yourself to tackle house cleaning with broom in one hand and dustpan in the other is one thing but getting everyone else to pitch in and help is another! For about two weeks now, I have witnessed a very strange yet miraculous occurrence: my toddler actually wants to help me clean house. At first, I was a little slow to catch on to what was happening because I’m so used to nagging everyone to help me out. So, as I said before- for two weeks, during my usual Monday cleaning day my toddler had fought me tooth and nail as we tug – o – war for the broom, mop, or whatever other cleaning appliance I had in my hand. My little Ryu would follow me around the house watching me clean and fight me for cleaning appliances! It finally dawned on me that maybe Ryu should have some cleaning appliances of his own.

So on the following Monday cleaning day I took Ryu down to Toys R Us and got him this nifty little cleaning trolley set which included: a mobile vacuum cleaner, exchangeable nozzles for the vacuum, a broom, a dustpan, a mop, a spray gun, and a place for trash. After buying this toy for him, I thought to myself that whoever invented this toy was simply genius!! This toy was perfect because as I swept the floors so would Ryu and when I would vacuum so would he. Not only is this toy a much safer version of cleaning house but I think that it is a great way to teach my little Ryu to get in the routine of taking care of his things. It is such an awesome feeling to see how proud he is because he has some responsibility and a sense of “I did it Mommy!”

And so, this is why my usual Monday cleaning day has changed from waking up in the morning and being bummed that I have to clean house to a feeling of -Yeah I have a little helper – my partner in cleaning crime!!