This is a series of posts on the skills that college students need in college and beyond.

If your child is in high school now is the perfect time to work with them on their cleaning skills (heck, if they are walking it’s a good time to work on their cleaning skills!).

There are a lot of different methods to cleaning. What works for you will probably not work for your child (just accept it – they won’t do things like you do them because you are … you.). The key is to communicate and work with them to find something that can work for them. If they learn to clean their room, they will be able to take care of their dorm room (at least their side of it!).

One thing I tried with my daughter was zones. We got the idea of zones from FlyLady (she divides the house into zones and you clean one zone per week). We tried to divide her room into zones: bedroom zone, living/study zone, bathroom zone and kitchen zone (the kitchen area didn’t really happen until she was in her dorm room). She tried it for a while in college.

We (me) also had several books that we (she) read to try to organize and clean her room. She had Organizing from the Inside Out for Teens. She got some great ideas from it.

In the end your children have to find what works for them. And they will…thankfully in their own house!

Do you have any tips to share with your children?

Related Posts :

Cartoon: Roommates

Roommates: Studying Habits

Dorm Room - Bedroom Needs

Everything but the Kitchen Sink...