Here’s the short version of my final report on how we did cleaning bathrooms this summer:

The bathrooms were thoroughly cleaned several times this summer.  If I hadn’t been purposeful about continuing to train my kids to clean them on a designated Bathroom Cleaning Day, they likely wouldn’t have been cleaned at all this summer.

The long version:

I really hesitated to say that last part.  About how we might not have cleaned them at all if Tuesday wasn’t Bathroom Day and how even that probably only happened because I was determined to hone their Potty Scrubbing Skills over the summer.

But it’s true.

Summer, no matter what my vision is for it at the end of May, no matter how much I realistically prepare myself for its lack of scheduled-ness, always flies by so fast I can barely catch my breath.

We thoroughly enjoyed the summer.  I look at those four(ish) bathroom cleanings as a success.  In my past life, it would have been completely the norm to awake with a start sometime in September and realize that I had no recollection of ever cleaning the bathroom in a month that started with a J.

How did the kids do?  Well, my 6yo still isn’t capable of cleaning a bathroom on her own, but she is one fabulous helper and rather fun to work with in my bathroom.  (Except when she repeatedly points out that my bathroom is the dirtiest.)

The almost-9yo and 10yo are both capable of cleaning on their own, but they do need supervision.  Meaning, extra eyeballs that notice things like never-wiped back-of-the-toilets.

Overall, I’m calling it a success.  The reality is that they cleaned the bathrooms.  More than twice.  And that means they practiced those skills we’ve worked on before, and got a little better at them.

And hey, that’s a headstart for me as I attempt to get back on my own cleaning routine next week.

Did your kids learn any bathroom cleaning skills this summer?

 

(Don’t forget that you can still get my e-book, Teaching Kids to Clean, for free right now!)