Get the kids to do housework (without them making it worse...)

By JO ABI

I never thought I’d see the day when the broom became redundant.

Outside of games involving witches on broomsticks which I play with my daughter, we just don’t need it anymore. Same goes for our dustpan. Poor dustpan. Fare thee well.

My children are 10, six and five, so are at that dreamy age when their attempts to help me clean our home are actually effective. So now we’re all responsible for keeping our house spotless. We all have jobs that we are responsible for and even though the kids sometimes grumble through their chores, they still get them done.

I don’t even know why they grumble. When I was little chores were much harder. It was my job every afternoon, during the week, to feed the chickens and give them water and every Saturday I had to polish all the furniture with a can of toxic furniture spray and a dirty, over-used rag.

When it was my turn to wash the dishes I had to wash them. We didn’t have a dishwasher. And when it was my turn to vacuum the house I sweated through it, dragging the cord behind me and lying on the floor to get under all the lounge chairs and beds.

Just as an FYI, you should know that this advertorial is sponsored by Electrolux Ergorapido.

Watching my children use our new Electrolux Ergorapido 2in1 makes me mourn my lost childhood. It would have been way more fun if we’d had one of these. My little slaves, ahem, beloved kids, vacuum the entire house in minutes and fight over whose turn it is to do the inside of my car. That might be because I let them honk the horn once they’re done, or it might be the satisfaction of seeing the car nice and clean. Okay, it’s the horn.

The Electrolux Ergorapido 2in1 is so versatile and goes from home to car to home easily, from floorboards to carpet and from skirting boards to furniture. I can do the skirting boards, the book shelf, the books, and the hair on the bathroom floor after I’ve given my hair a fancier-than-usual blow-dry. And it’s completely cordless so cleaning is quick and easy and not a major task that takes hours. Plus the detachable cleaning unit is perfect for those small spaces.

Messes like this just aren’t a big deal anymore because I can clean them so quickly and easily. Like the time I spilled raw sugar all over my bench and floor, or the time a packet of breadcrumbs burst open, and the 180-degree swivel nozzle and larger rear wheels made it so much easier to get every little crumb out from under the kitchen chairs.  Spill? What spill?

Even if you are doing that thing where you just blind vacuum under beds and furniture, unable to see what on earth you are doing, the Ergorapido has these awesome LED lights that help you see if you’ve missed any spots, so if a half-eaten biscuit is hiding under anything, it will be located and terminated.

If you haven’t done it yet, make sure you divvy up the household chores with your kids because they are members of the family too and should pull their weight. That leaves you more time to do the things only you can do and even find a few minutes here and there to sit down and read a book or flick through a magazine or try out a new recipe.

The less time I spend cleaning the better, and having an amazing vacuum cleaner like this cuts down on my cleaning time by hours each week, particularly when the kids are happy to pitch in.

How do you get kids to help out around the house?

Electrolux Ergorapido is thoughtfully designed for convenience and ease-of-use, being a cordless vacuum it will always be ready for you to just grab & go. The Electrolux Ergorapido is extremely easy to glide, it features a clip-on handheld unit to vacuum couches or even your car, and smart features like the LED lights to easily vacuum around dark areas or underneath furniture. Whether you use it for your main weekly vacuum run or as a secondary vacuum for those quick clean ups, Electrolux Ergorapido is sure to be your best friend around the home.

Ergorapido 18V –  RRP $359

Ergorapido 14.4V – RRP $279

Available at all major electrical retailers Australia wide.