10 steps to get the kids enthusiastic about housework: vacuuming with the Dyson v6 total clean

Every once in a while my geeky side is reconfirmed… and then I get to see these have been genes passed onto the kids too.

I hate housework, but reluctantly try to stay on top.  Tell me I’m not alone!

My secret tools to keeping on top are an extra large capacity washing machine, a well-honed laundry management system, a vacuum cleaner and vinegar.

I get excited about any tools that help me cook or clean more efficiently.

The gadget I use daily is my vacuum cleaner, actually often more than once a day, it is permanently plugged in with cable trailing. My Dyson Animal comes out after each meal preparation in the kitchen and after each meal in the dining room.  Since Joshy has passed away we have no live hoover and I realise what immensely messy eater we are.  There is no way we could live with carpeted floors!

The other day we were invited to a special event: the launch of Dyson’s new handheld vacuum cleaner at the Dyson showroom itself, the no cords attached event.  As it was a weekend, thus it was to be a family event, with all five of us going. I was a bit worried the kids would be bored.

At the Dyson showroom I discovered a secret:

The BEST way to get kids interested in cleaning:

1. Give your  kids copious amounts of rice, cereals and baking soda to scatter across marble floors, tiles and carpet.
2. Then give them a light, well-balanced vacuum cleaner and let them suck it up.
3. Empty and then suck some more up.
4. Let them empty it in the bin or back on the floor.
5. Let them draw shapes into the mess, before they vacuum or during with the vacuum head.
6. Let them play like this for over an hour, taking turns in being creative with mess.

Then return home:

1. Whip out the new light-weight handheld vacuum cleaner, no cords attached.
2. While one unloads the dishwasher the other races around them cleaning the mess dropped from messy food preparation and eating.
3. Each get a reward sticker or a marble for their marble jar.
4. Repeat next day- just swap the 7 and 8 year old around. Suddenly, I’ve lost two of my housework tasks to relatively enthusiastic kids.
5. When, after about a week, they are getting bored of their tasks, bake a cake and be extra messy, spilling flour.
6. Let them make footsteps and draw or write in the mess.
7. Take pictures of the mess art, only to realise after that you were laughing so much at their antics that all your pictures are a blurry mess.
8. Vacuum and empty…into the bin this time.
9. Eat cake!
10. Repeat

And that is how to get your kids enthusiastic about housework:

Make housework interesting, fun and rewarding for the kids

…I guess that can be said for most things in life, right?

A little training session at a Dyson showroom would probably help more kids take over these easy but tedious tasks of housework.  I was lucky!  Thank you Dyson for the help.

And not only did we have messy fun, but we had a Dyson design engineer there to answer all our questions.

He explained all about the V6 digital motor and the little whirlwinds that develop in chambers separating out the dirt.

I found it utterly fascinating!  Especially when I returned home compared our old Dyson (one with a single whirlwind tunnel), our Dyson animal (which has seen us through house renovations and we love so much it has been given an upgrade motor)  and the new handheld V6.

This new motor runs at a phenomenal 110,000 revs. My car engine runs between 2-3,000 and then we are whizzing down the motorway usually.

We got to play with two different model the Total clean and the Absolute.  Each of these have generally the same features, but one unique element:

The Total Clean has Fluffy; An adorable name I know!  There is none of the usual BS about this attachment on: it works hardwoord floors! (Carpet is easy… everyone’s mastered that!)  Without flicking big bit around, making you navigate in awkward angles to sip that dried bit of pasta off the floor… the one you could lean down and pick up by hand, but what’s the point, if this suction head actually does it?!

The Absolute has the most absolute filter: it tackles very very small particles.  The Absolute removes 99.97% of particles as small as 0.3 microns.  Now, 0.3 microns is as small as most mould spores get.  This traps those.  So if your house has tendency for damp, mouldy spots (which a lot of the UK houses have) or you have allergy sufferers, then this is the vacuum for you.

I was totally torn between the two, but Fluffy won my heart over.  Practicality over total geekery of mould spores.

At the moment I am really enjoying using my Dyson v6 total clean, but I shall be sharing a detailed, time tested review before Christmas…in case you have it on your list and want to know warts and all before shelling out £400 or so.

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Do you have one of these? How does it work for you? 
Do you have a good alternative? 

Please share in the comments below.

PS- We finished that day in London with a visit to the V&A museum, because the design aspect of Dyson products always appealed to me, so what better place to look at inspirational design than the V&A?!