Is it reasonable to ask my 12 year old daughter to clean the bathroom?

[Anonymous]

My 5 year old cleans one of the bathrooms. (Wipes down the toilet, swishes the brush inside, and wipes down the sink.)

Do it together, split it up, teach her what to do, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it her bathroom?

One of the 2 shared bathrooms (She is an only child, I forgot to mention that)

Important info. You’re fine.

[Anonymous]

yes!!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would not make my daughter clean a bathroom shared with a male relative unless you have one who actually wipes the toilet and floor down each time they use it. She didn't sign up for wiping up her dad's pee.

If it's her own bathroom, sure.

WTH. My husband can and does manage to aim properly when he pees. Its not hitting the outside of the toilet or the floor, and I know this because I am the one who cleans the master bathroom and powder room. Maybe if you have young boys in the house its an issue (I don't have any boys) but this should not be an issue with grown men. My husband would 1000% be cleaning the toilet daily if his aim were that bad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dont elementary age kids in Japan clean their whole schools?
Part of taking care of your environment.

Yes

[Anonymous]

My 2 sons shared a bathroom and they traded off each week with regard to cleaning. The6 we’re NOT paid.

[Anonymous]

Yes, but type/wrote down instructions and put in plastic sleeve file thing so they know what they are doing the second time around. Kids forget as they build new habit/chore.

We did that so kids knew correct products. And from experience and I dropped the blue toilet cleaner onto rug and used bare hands with rag to clean and it ended up burning my skin…be careful that toilet bowl cleaners are very toxic if you use that blue stuff. They burn skin so be careful with which products you give.

[Anonymous]

My 12 year old does the dog’s daily walks, her own laundry, cleans her room and bathroom, and helps make dinner. These are age appropriate chores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, but type/wrote down instructions and put in plastic sleeve file thing so they know what they are doing the second time around. Kids forget as they build new habit/chore.

We did that so kids knew correct products. And from experience and I dropped the blue toilet cleaner onto rug and used bare hands with rag to clean and it ended up burning my skin…be careful that toilet bowl cleaners are very toxic if you use that blue stuff. They burn skin so be careful with which products you give.

+1
My only caveat is that bowl cleaners can be pretty caustic. With a kid, a 7th Generation type of cleaner will give you the margin of error you might need.

[Anonymous]

DD, 13, cleans the bathroom. Has both allergies and asthma so we focus on unscented and products with few chemicals. +1 for Seventh Generation but other good products on EWG's Guide if chemicals are a concern: https://www.ewg.org/cleaners/categories/3-Bathroom/

[Anonymous]

My 12yo does not clean bathrooms because a cleaning person does ours every 2 weeks. I do tell her to clean her sink and windex her mirror every now and again. She is certainly old enough to do it though.
She empties the dishwasher, brings in recycling and trash, plays with the dog to wear him out, and will do other things as asked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 5 year old cleans one of the bathrooms. (Wipes down the toilet, swishes the brush inside, and wipes down the sink.)

Do it together, split it up, teach her what to do, etc.

I'm sure someone will come along and say that their 3-year-old knows how to use Fantastik and 409 and perfectly scrub tiles with a toothbrush but I do think 5 is too young. Kids don't have enough skills with managing hygiene or chemicals yet at that age and would probably either just make the bathroom dirtier or breathe in a bunch of fumes they don't need. Or both.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely reasonable, my 11 year old DS does all of the bathrooms in our house. I started showing him during Covid when we no longer had a cleaning person and we haven’t gotten one back since. He’s better than I have ever been now and takes real pride in it. He’s not paid for chores, they are just part of our daily routine.

[Anonymous]

My 11 year old has been cleaning a bathroom (for allowance, in addition to cleaning her own room) for more than a year

[Anonymous]

My 7 and 11 year olds clean their bathroom together once a week. They don’t do a very good job, but at least they’re getting used to the responsibility