Getting Kids to Clean with Katelyn Fagan from What’s Up Fagans — PCP 033

Today we’re talking about getting your kids to pitch-in and clean! I think we all think (when our kids are babies) that our kids will be great at helping around the house, but sometimes we aren’t aware of how long it takes to train them.

Today’s guest is Katelyn Fagan from What’s up Fagans (she has two Instagram accounts — @GoalOrientedMoms and @What’sUpFagans. She is also the author of Speed Clean the Deep Clean (which is my bible for cleaning up stuff).

Psst: The fun thing about this interview is that I had JUST found out that Katelyn was pregnant, and then a few weeks later we found out she’s having TWINS (her second set). SO, getting kids involved in the cleaning process is going to be ALL the more important for Katelyn!

This post was inspired by the MANY posts I have about getting kids to do chores. I love this post on the things you DON’T have to do for your kids, and this one on cleaning your kids rooms.

This just in: I have created a schedule (that includes cleaning) for my kids during this little Corona break….

Big thanks to our sponsor The Organized Home — all about simplifying organizing your house. The more organized you are, the easier it is to clean-up!

Mentioned in the episode:

• Cleaning Printables for each room
• Children’s Daily Task Checklist

Other things you might find interesting:

• Cleaning the bathroom
• Toy Organization

Producer: Drew Erickson

Check out my other parenting podcasts:

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Transcript:

Hilary Erickson 0:00
Welcome back to the pulling curls podcast today on episode 33 we’re talking about getting kids to clean right? That’s why you have kids so they would clean your house right? Isn’t that what you all think before you have kids? Let’s untangle it. Welcome to the pulling curls podcast where we untangle everything from pregnancy parenting, Homer, teens, even some family travel because heavens knows our lives are tangled. I’m your host, Hilary Erickson. Okay, before we get started, I wanted to tell you guys kind of a little bit about how I deal with kids and jobs at our house. Something I do that that’s kind of helpful is that I have the kids assign jobs every day and those jobs shadow kind of what mine does. So when it’s vacuum your room, they vacuum their room when it’s cleaned the bathrooms they clean their bathrooms and twofold if their home it allows them to add on my job without too much fuss or must also if they’re sick or like out of town that I can add on their job without like a big shift in what I’m doing and so on Monday Days our kids kind of have each their own assigned tasks but on Tuesdays they clean the bathroom same day I clean the bathroom on Wednesdays they vacuum the room. I’m vacuuming the room. On Thursdays they kind of clean up in their room same for me. So that’s kind of an idea. If you are trying to figure out how to assign chores at your house. That’s something that we do that I think is super helpful. Today I have a guest on she is the blogger behind me Instagram accounts goal oriented moms want to be neat freak. And what’s up Fagan’s. She is also the author of speed clean the deep clean she is one of my good friends I want to welcome to today’s podcast Kayelyn Fagan. This episode of The pulling curls podcast is sponsored by the organized home the realistic way to manage your home reduce clutter and clean less ever wished you could relax with Netflix rather than worrying about the state of your home or that lost paper you need. No more needing hours to prep for company be prepared for any doorbell. Let’s simplify organizing so you can enjoy life more. Save 15% with the coupon code untangled you can find it at pullingcurls.com and the menu under COURSES Or in this episode show notes Hey, Katelyn, welcome to the pulling

Katelyn Fagan 2:06
girls podcast. Hey Hilary Glad to be

Hilary Erickson 2:09
here. Okay so quick rundown what ages kids do you have at your house right now?

Katelyn Fagan 2:14
I have five kids and I have 29 year old girls. I have a six year old boy a four year old girl and almost two year old girl.

Hilary Erickson 2:24
Yeah, so Katelyn has kids that are a lot younger than I am. So it’s kind of fun to you know, compare and contrast what what different agents do right? Yes. Okay. So what type of jobs do you have those kids do

Katelyn Fagan 2:35
well, I have my twins doing a lot of jobs. At this point, they kind of are in charge of doing all their laundry and kind of start to finish although sometimes I still you know have a little bit here and there but they also then you know help with doing the dishes or cleaning up after a while they don’t do the dishes. I prefer to wash the pots and pans but they’ll you know clean off the table and they’ll sweep and sometimes a mop and Sometimes they’ll help with other kind of regular jobs, they take out the recycling bins like to the curb and back, you know, on Thursdays and try to think what else they do. That’s mostly and then the six year old you know, he’s does a lot of kind of still like, you know, we asked him to wipe off the table sometimes or helps we or have put away his own laundry and hang it up. He’s still sometimes helps fold and sort and all that as laundry. But yeah, it’s not always as willing participation from him. Of course.

Hilary Erickson 3:33
Yeah, six fixes a fun age for helping Yeah, so fun.

Katelyn Fagan 3:38
And then from my, for my four year old, well, she’s just kind of along for the ride. I mean, she has like folded her laundry and if you know, have her clean up her own messes, and we try to help her like organize your room and kind of pick up her own toys and if she gets out games or something to encourage you to pick it up after herself, and you know, show how Hang up her shirts and stuff like that, too. So we’re working with her, you know, she gets closer to five and stuff to kind of do a little bit more as well. And the two year old This is the reason we have to clean up all day. She is the tornado see is something Yeah.

Hilary Erickson 4:14
And you are FEMA. And I’m what your FEMA? FEMA? Yeah. So I mean, I think everybody needs to realize that it is a process that takes years. So it’s kind of fun to see your progression, at least from the other side of like, how much they’re helping and stuff like that. Okay, Katelyn, here’s the real tough question. Is it faster for you to do the chores yourself?

Katelyn Fagan 4:37
Yes, of course it is.

Of course it is. It’s always faster to do it yourself because you know exactly what to do and you don’t get distracted by like 1000 things and you know that the quicker you get done, that’s done. You don’t have to like I don’t know how and your kids over and over to do it, you know? Yeah, yeah, cuz that’s always not fun, right? I mean, that’s like, half The battle with getting the kids to do it too. But obviously, like I do better job like, I’m going to pay better attention to details and I’m going to fold it perfectly or if not, you know, close enough. And you know kids are you know, I got it done, mom. Yeah, it’s done. It’s shoved in my closet. It’s fine. You know. So different levels of cleanliness and just focus.

Hilary Erickson 5:22
Yeah, I think a lot of times we think, oh, we had these kids, I am going to have them be my slaves, and my house will be so clean, right? I think you think that when you’re like newly married, oh, we’ll have children and they’ll help us around the house. And I will say that my older kids are getting to the point, not even the 10 year old, but the older ones are getting to the point where they can do stuff pretty much as good as I do it because they don’t want to deal with the hassle of me like turning off their internet or whatnot. If it’s not done, right.

Katelyn Fagan 5:46
Okay. Yeah, I get that. One of the small perks of having teenagers Yeah. So how do you teach your kids how to do the jobs? I’ve heard that some people do like a certificate when the child’s ready to do the job. I’ve never gotten that. So Awesome, but do you have anything you teach them? Usually it says teaching by just everyday living and normal instruction and always you have to kind of do it side by side for a long time like kids don’t know what sweeping looks like or what good sleep sleeping looks like and they’re always much more motivated to do it when you’re next to them and showing them it’s like even with like the two year old like if she dumps food on the floor like she did tonight like it’s a matter of Okay, well no it’s pick it up and sometimes it’s a matter of like getting down next to her and like just having her put it into your hand you know, and picking up the little pasta noodles or cereal and having your put it into a little plate or something where it’s not so like overwhelming like take it all the way to the trash can or something right so it’s this kind of small steps and then just realizing that they can do these simple things. So same with like folding towels, you just, you know show them how to do that how to match up socks, how to fold the socks together. There’s no certificate that I give out anything like that I’m not that you know, organized or on top of it or awesome. I don’t know, whatever. But yeah, I mean, I try to just help them and encourage them and point out the fact like, Hey, you could do these things like your big kid.

Hilary Erickson 7:15
Yeah, I think it’s important for them to realize that as they grow up, there’s perks for growing up and they have responsibility right? Yeah, yeah, I do have like cleaning principles in some of the rooms of like the bathroom because sometimes my kids will be like, yeah, I wiped off the counter but they forgot the toilet or the floor anything else and so sometimes I have a printable in the bathroom that reminds them what to do but they’re not that good about it either. I should probably do that because yeah, the bathrooms one of those they don’t know what really needs to be cleaned. Right? They just think looks clean to me like Right, right. It’s like why didn’t even sweep the floor their kids? Yeah, it’s hard because we each have our own level of cleanness. I’m sure some people will come to my house and think it looks clean to me, but I’m like, look at the water spots. So yeah, all right. So do you clean your kids rooms for them? Or do they clean their own,

Katelyn Fagan 8:03
I generally don’t clean their rooms, I will kind of periodically go in when it’s just everything’s disorganized, and a total chaos. And if I go, if I’m going through their room, it’s often too like, well, maybe it’s time to get rid of some choice. We keep kind of like bare minimum toys. A lot of times in our house, we’re not a household overflowing with toys by any means, especially when we go to other people’s houses. And I’m always like, Oh my gosh, there’s just this entire room dedicated to toys. And it’s crazy to me, because we don’t have that we just have, you know, a few toys in each kid’s room and try to keep them packed up somewhat. So if I’m having them clean their room, it’s like usually to organize and help them like find their stuff again in the future. And then also show them like how to better keep it clean, right? I mean, that’s also the process and also they just get bits of trash everywhere in the room. I don’t know, like papers and whatever. So I’d like to clear that all out periodically. That’s maybe like once a quarter. I wouldn’t say it’s you know, every month. That just depends on the season a little bit.

Hilary Erickson 9:02
Yeah, I’m pretty similar, especially with the 10 year old I will say that we got carpet recently and she suddenly realized that the corners is not a hiding place for every piece of trash she’s ever seen. Like, she had to clean everything out. And she was like, Oh my gosh, I opener. Right, those

Katelyn Fagan 9:17
closets and under beds and Nixon drawers and yeah, so sometimes it’s worthwhile to kind of go through and just help them have an organized space. And yeah, that’s beneficial to them. But like the nine year olds, I pretty much don’t help them that much with their room.

Hilary Erickson 9:31
Yeah, I think it’s really hard for my daughter to figure out what she can throw away especially like clothing and stuff. Yeah. So sometimes I have to go in there and be like, No, those shorts, those pants are at your knees. We can just we can throw them or send them to Goodwill. Yeah, yeah. So when a kid does something that they need to clean up from they Sharpie the wall or they throw their food on the floor, which sounds like it happened tonight. Are you good about helping them do it? Do you do it? What do you do?

Katelyn Fagan 9:56
It depends on mass a little bit like you know, broken glass. Okay, yeah, I have to handle You know, I’m not gonna let my kids mess with that

Hilary Erickson 10:02
we broke glass tonight at dinner. Oh, you know,

Katelyn Fagan 10:04
hey, it happens. I break glass sometimes and I’m like, it happens. It’s just what it is. And I try to like remember like, it happens, you know stuff breaks people drop food, whatever. Sometimes people throw food too if you’re a toddler, but

Hilary Erickson 10:19
hopefully it’s not your husband. No.

Katelyn Fagan 10:23
This is checking out the kids. Here’s your here’s your candy. No, I’m sorry. What was the question?

Hilary Erickson 10:30
Do you clean up your kid’s room? Or like when they make a mess? Do you clean it up? Or you let them do it?

Katelyn Fagan 10:34
Yeah, so marker and stuff on the wall? Yeah, I it’s a mixture sometimes. So the reality is, is because I’m a blogger, and I write about clean tutorials and sometimes I then clean it up so I can take video and take pictures of me cleaning it up. So we’re weird.

Hilary Erickson 10:49
I know

Katelyn Fagan 10:50
I’m a weirdo but they give me great material to work with and blog about so you know, I do some cleaning experiments and sometimes I don’t want the kids messing with all the cleaning supplies or something. Especially like the toddler, so I might do that during nap time, but I do often involve like my older twins and help me do that. If it is like something easy to wipe up because the washable marker then yeah, the two year olds definitely helped me wipe it up and they usually love it. They go gung ho and if you involve some water, they’re all over that because water plays the best.

Hilary Erickson 11:19
Yeah, I always tried to get out the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser because I felt like that couldn’t really hurt them. So we’d give it a try.

Katelyn Fagan 11:24
Yeah, yeah, we’ve done magic erasers many times on many walls.

Hilary Erickson 11:29
Yeah. The worst. I do feel like after you have them scrub for a fair amount of time, though, hopefully reminds them that they should never ever ever do it again. You think that’s the hope? But you never know. Yeah. I mean, sometimes they need a reminder a few times. Alright, Katelyn, this was awesome. Thanks for coming on. Yeah, you’re very welcome.

Katelyn Fagan 11:48
Thanks for having me. This is so fun.

Hilary Erickson 11:50
Okay, guys, I hope you ended up liking that episode. I think this reveals the hard truth. You didn’t have kids so that they would clean your house. Am I right man? Oh man. I wish they were But they just frankly are not. And so I really liked this episode I enjoyed talking to Katelyn about it. I think it’s exciting to see that it is a progression that takes years getting kids ready to clean but again, my 15 year old is fairly self sufficient depending on the day my 19 year old is pretty much self sufficient but we all kind of have our own ideas of how we want things done. So I would guess that even you are thinking well my husband is fairly self sufficient. And I bet he thinks my wife is fairly self sufficient. In fact, he didn’t like the way I folded laundry so guess who folds the laundry now not me anyway, I think you know, expectations need to be balanced. You got to get in there and teach and so I hope you enjoyed today’s episode. If you’d like to know more about giving kids jobs and also those cleaning principles I mentioned check out the show notes for today. It is on pulling girls com backslash podcast or you can check it out. Today’s episode is number 33. Big thanks to our sponsor, the organized home if you are looking to simplify organizing to really help your kids get in there and clean because the worst is when you have to clean up in order to get your kids to clean if you’re Looking to simplify it is the course for you be sure and use coupon code untangled to save 15% and of course Big thanks to Katelyn for coming on. She is a super busy mom of five kids and it was just fun to hear what she does and she really is the speed clean the D plan. If you guys are looking for cleaning tutorials head on over to her blog. She has lots of good information for you. If you liked today’s episode, of course we would love it if you would share, subscribe and review. We love a review. We hope to have you with us next time we drop an episode every Monday and until then, I hope you have a tangle free day!

Transcribed by https://otter.ai