Teaching Kids to Make the Bed

If you’ve decided your kids’ New Year’s resolutions should be to help around the house a little more, setting them tidying tasks in their own bedroom is a great place to start. But how do you turn little ones into housemaids in the making? Here are our tips for getting boys and girls to make their own beds…

Incentivise it

According to research published last Autumn by the Halifax, two-thirds of children who receive pocket money do so in return for completing household chores. Most children are probably happier about tucking in their bed sheets when there’s a pound or two a week up for grabs!

Make it fun

Before you ask children to do a task on their own it’s always a good idea to let them join in with you a few times and when they do, make the task as fun as you can. With little ones, why not sing a making the bed song as you go? This one even tells you what step you need to do next. If you’ve got one of our pirate themed beds, you could try singing a sea shanty instead!

Help where you can

Depending on the age of your child it may not be safe or sensible for them to make the bed by themselves. Children (and adults!) of all ages can struggle with duvets, which should always be assembled on the floor and not atop a cabin bed! Be on hand to help your child with these more difficult tasks but it’s not unreasonable to expect them to straighten up their sheets and pillows or to turn down the duvet. Positive reinforcement goes a long way, as does routine, so agree with your child whether they’ll do the task when they first get out of bed or before they go to school.

Still struggling to get them on board? Chore charts are a good way of tracking domestic progress. As well as charting how many days chores are performed, you may want to think about using a traffic light system. When chores are performed and children are reasonably well behaved their names are positioned at amber on the traffic lights and they are permitted certain privileges. When they slip down to red they will lose privileges and when they’re extra good they might unlock a special treat!

Do your kids make their own beds regularly? Do they do so willingly or is it a point of contention?