Cleaning with Child(ren)

For my second Mommy tip I'm going to help you find ways to get things done while keeping your children happy. For people like me with an (almost) 11 month old it is hard to get around to doing things that need to get done such as house work. Even at that age you can include your child in your cleaning activities. Which in turn will help you when they get older and start to take on the responsibilities of chores. While it does take longer to get your house work done when you have your little one helping you it beats it not getting done at all or your getting frustrated while your child is screaming for you to play but you are cleaning. First, lets say you have dishes to do(not all of us are lucky enough to have a dish washer). You can set your child up in a walker, jumperoo, exersaucer, etc, next to where you will be doing your dishes, you can make games with them by blowing the bubbles from the dish soap at them or while you are cleaning cups(DO NOT DO WITH GLASS) you can bang the cups together(can also be done with plastic bowls, tupperware, etc). Another thing you could do is give them cup of their own and let them just play with it and bang it around on their own. Now lets say you have a living room to pick up. An easy way to do this AND keep your little one happy is to clean with music on and dance around while making goofy faces at your little one. They will enjoy the time together, play, and it will wear them out for either nap time or bed time. Honestly, if you clean to music, no matter what the cleaning, you should be able to keep your child entertained enough that you can do what you need to do, plus it will also make cleaning a little bit more fun for you. Plus you will be satisfied when you get done cleaning because you aren't sitting with a mess or worrying about getting things clean.

I hope this is a helpful tip for you ladies and it helps you keep your baby happy AND help keep you in a happy, clean home.