Parenting Your Teens: 6 Basic Cleaning Strategies That You Should Teach Your Teenager

Last updated on : March 23 2022

Cleanliness begins at home. Teaching teens adult responsibilities, such as cleaning the room, can help them understand how responsibilities work as they grow up. It's never too early for your teens to learn cleaning at home. With easy-to-implement strategies, you can get your teens moving and be more responsible.

A parent can easily ask a two-year-old to put away the toys after playing. However, it can be a challenge to ask your teenager to help with cleaning errands.

Nonetheless, developing the habit of cleaning is a must for teenagers because you want to prepare them to face more challenging responsibilities outside the house and school later on.

As you teach your teenager to clean effectively, they will value the part they play at home, which will boost your teen's self-esteem.  

Teens Need To Tidy Their Bedroom

First, teach your teenage child to clean the bedroom. It will be easier for your teen to understand the importance of cleaning when they start with a familiar place. It will also help him/her become independent as your son/daughter can easily find things he/she needs.

Generally, the bedroom is the first and last room we visit every day. At Maid Sailors, maid service Chicago, we advise our clients to start cleaning their bedrooms first. 

Teach your teens how to change their bedsheets and organize their closets. They should also know how to sweep their bedroom since it's one of the easiest house chores. Used clothes should always be put into the laundry basket, not on the floor or the bed.

Lastly, it would be best if you gave them a place to store every item personal to them so that the parents won't go into their messy tables or drawers.

Learn How To Mop the Floor

Before the teenage years, you can train your kids in household cleaning tasks with minimal administration.

As young as nine years old, you can teach a kid how to mop the floor. Give them step-by-step instructions on the first try, or teach them how to prepare the mop and water. Then, show them the proper ways to use the mop.

There are many reasons you should teach your teenagers to mop the floors.

The most obvious reason is that it will give them a sense of responsibility. Your teens will feel like they contribute to the household and not just be a burden. Teaching them how to clean their room, do laundry, and mop the floors will make them feel like part of a team.

Another reason is that there are many benefits to mopping the floor. It can be therapeutic because it forces you to focus on one task at a time. It also gets rid of any dirt or dust that has accumulated on your floor by using water and soap, which is much better for your health than using chemicals or other cleaners, which can have adverse health effects in the long run.

Give them tips on how to clean hard-to-remove stains. Likewise, instruct your teenager on different ways to mop according to floor type. It would help if you also taught your kids how to clean and return the mop and bucket in the storage.

Assign schedules for when it's time for your teenager to become the mopping champ once they can already do it alone.

Keep the Bathroom Neat and Clean

The bathroom's cleanliness reflects the people's personality in a house. 

Teach your teenager to be responsible when using the toilet. This knowledge is essential to the community because there are many instances in which your child will use a public comfort room.

Teaching your teenager about cleanliness in the bathroom will create a more significant impact when they know that it is not easy to clean it.

Keeping the bathroom clean involves a lot more tasks than mopping. Thus, remind your teenager never to leave the bathroom unless they finish checking the sink, the mirror, the floor, and the toilet. 

They should adequately throw trash away in the bin. They should put the toothbrushes and tubes of toothpaste in their right organizers. Lastly, always flush the toilet.

Consistency is essential in teaching about bathroom cleaning chores because they cannot do it in just a few days or weeks.

Cleaning the Living Room

Create an extra bonding with your teenager as you teach them how to clean your living room.

Sanitize if necessary. Teach your child to use the vacuum safely and how to keep it after use. Items in the different parts of the living room should have organizers to keep them in one place.

To dust the standard rooms in the house is more accessible than cleaning the toilet, but this doesn't stop in the living room. Instruct your child to clean areas in the home that your family usually stays in, like the dining area.

Inculcate responsibility to the teenagers by scheduling their time to clean the living room or the other rooms and don't forget to acknowledge every improvement in the task.

Clean Their Surroundings

Never underestimate the value that your teenager will feel as soon as they take errands that will benefit or help others.

For starters, you can make them help with gardening or task them to bathe your pets. In addition to cleaning, you can ask them to help water the plants or feed your pet. Then, level up all the tasks as they show the ability to handle the first tasks themselves.

Household chores that make them feel in charge will inspire them to complete the task. Trusting your teenage child to do activities that show their care for other people or pets will teach them responsibility and accountability.

Throw the Trash Away

Waste is always a matter of great responsibility in real life, even for adults. Throwing the trash away, including theirs, will always sound demanding to your teenagers. The answer to this is making this task a habit.

Teaching your kids how to throw the trash away is essential because it will help them develop a sense of responsibility. It will also make them more aware of their surroundings and the consequences of littering.

The first step to teaching your teenagers how to throw the trash away is to show them what you expect from them. You can show your expectations by providing an excellent example for them to follow and explaining why this is important.

Teach them how to dispose of their trash correctly. For example, you could show your teens how to place their food waste in a compost bin and then put the rest of their garbage into the recycling bin. It would be best if you also taught them about recycling and why it's crucial for the environment.

Declutter Regularly

The idea of decluttering is not to throw everything away but to get rid of what you don't need. This habit is a skill that will serve you well in life.

While we might think that this is something that teenagers should learn from their parents, it's not always the case. Parents are often too busy or distracted to teach their children how to declutter. So we should actively teach them how this skill can help them with their future life.

Decluttering is a higher form of challenge to your teenager. Separating stuff to keep and let go of is something that even we adults struggle to do.

However, you can work this out by creating a habit of decluttering with your kids. You can even incentivize it to make it more interesting for your child. Say, they can earn money by selling the things they don't need anymore or donating them.

Decluttering will also teach your child that it is crucial to know whether you need an item before buying. As they grow older, they should stop buying things if they can't organize and clean them. 

Encouragement or Enforcement

The next step is to enforce these habits by taking away privileges if they don't follow through with what you've taught them. For example, if your teenager does not recycle or throws their garbage on the floor instead of in a garbage can, they will have fewer privileges like going out with friends.

Additionally, reward your teenager as you feel necessary for being cooperative and diligent in following your instructions. Make it a group effort of the family to clean the house and celebrate afterward.

Parents will struggle at first, but imagine how a community and the country could benefit when the people know how to keep everything clean. However, don't be frustrated and learn how to motivate your child in this matter.

Your teenager will appreciate your thoughts of lesser government expenditures for street sweepers or waste segregation because they started to throw trash sensibly.

Conclusion

Cleaning their room, mopping the floor, keeping the bathroom clean, cleaning the living room and the surroundings, throwing away the trash properly, and decluttering are a few of the tasks that are win-win situations for you and your teenager.

You create bonding moments, they help you finish the house chores, and they develop their responsible personality.

Finally, remind them of the importance of what they do and that they are learning. Remind your teens that the process will teach them how to be better adults than finishing the cleaning errands. 

Remember that cleaning should be a habit and the sincere "thank you" and "great job" that your teenager deserves.

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