Chaos to Kindness
by Kacie
I wanted to share how I handle cleaning as a Radical Unschooling family with 4 kids. I work full time from home and do not have time to constantly pick up after the kids.
Admittedly the house can get very messy, very quickly. Also, the Baker kids do not have chores or any kind of allowance. So, how can I keep the house clean without help? I don’t. Mostly kidding, but the house is lived in and will not be Pinterest worthy any time soon, and I’m ok with that. But also, the kids do help. Sometimes I ask, and sometimes they just see me cleaning and offer their assistance. The biggest difference is there isn’t any coercion or punishments.
Want to see this in action? This is our playroom in a state of chaos.
Obviously a lot of fun was had in here, but the room is no longer functional because of the mess.
It is overwhelming to me and the kids don't even want to be in here anymore. We really needed a reset. I started this morning while everyone was asleep, moved all the large items out and took a dust mop and literally swept everything into a pile. Then sorted, through throwing away trash and putting other toys and items in their place
I very purposely did this for my kids. Even still, two of them woke up while I was cleaning and they both asked to help.
Girl Boss woke up first. As soon as she saw what I was doing she asked to help. I suggested she work on the small Legos. We worked together for maybe 10 minutes when she decided she was done and asked if she could go watch YouTube. Off she went and a short while later Gallant woke up. By this time I was almost done. He helped me pick up the last few toys and I held the dust pan while he swept up the pile.
A messy room is overwhelming. Forcing my kids to clean it up themselves or even to help me would likely have resulted in me nagging while they whine and cry. Instead it took little more than an hour of my day. I showed my love by cleaning their space. They showed their appreciation by jumping in and helping.
Please also note that sometimes no one helps. They may be busy with other things, and that is ok too. But honestly, most of the time they do.
