As spring gets close, the thoughts of opening the windows and cleaning out the house begin!

Why not get the kids involved and teach them how to clean the house to?!

At what age should they move from just picking up toys to actually helping with…

• sanitizing

• polishing

• scrubbing?

That answer depends on what products you use to clean your home. What chemicals and toxins are in those cleaners?

My friend Annie, after watching her daughter suffer with itchy and painful eczema, learned how toxic many household cleaners can be.

Their daughter endured terrible flare ups of this eczema rash during her infant and toddler years. Annie and her husband tried…

• multiple doctors and specialists

• lotions and creams

• wet dressings

• topical and oral steroids

• and dietary restrictions

  …all with little or no relief.

Coming to the end of their rope, Annie was introduced to a company that made all natural and organic household and personal cleansers.

After using their laundry system, their daughter’s eczema not only improved but completely cleared up.

What chemicals and toxins are in your household cleansers?

Annie shared this web site www.ewg.org/guides/categories with me from the Environmental Working Group. This site evaluates and grades household cleaning products on a scale from A-F.

They look at what chemicals are in the products and how that can affect your…

• health

• the toxin levels in your house

• and the environment

They are a non-partisan, non-profit organization and you can read more about them here.

My laundry soap was given the grade of F!

This led me to investigate other products. Some were B’s and others D’s or F’s…

Which brings me back to the question…

At what age is it safe to let kids help sanitize the house?

In Annie’s house, the girls are early elementary ages and helping with everything from washing cabinets to getting marker off of the couch cushion.

What is she thinking?!?

Annie is an Independent Advisor for the company H2O At Home. It was their laundry washing system that helped to eliminate the her daughter’s eczema.

Now, I am not an affiliate nor do I receive any payment for recommending H2O products.

I write about them here because they work and are…

• safe for kids and families

• bio-degradable

• come in recyclable packaging

The micro-fiber rags (Chiffonnettes) they use are so effective, that often you only need to use water!

Seriously!

Water!

Sometimes you may need something stronger for cleaning, like the Cleaning Clay. (used on the cabinets in the photo above and in the baby bath photo below) It’s non-toxic and food safe! (If some was to get in their mouth, it is harmless)

You can check out Annie’s H2O At Home site to get more information about this company and their products!

TeacHing kids to pitch in and use safe products helps the family and the enviornment!

My kids helped…

• pick up

• clean out closets and

• organize drawers

  …but using household cleaners was never allowed until they were teenagers.

  The cleaners were toxic!

I thought those chemicals were an important factor in killing germs.

The truth is that you do NOT need toxic house cleaners to kill germs!

Annie’s daughters are lucky to learn this lesson so young!

My kids are grown, and it’s too late for me to go back and change how I cleaned house with my kids, but here is where I remember that…

Parenting is NOT about perfection, it is about the power in your plan!

As a parent, when I feel like I missed the boat on something I am reminded of this great saying by Maya Angelou…

“Do the best you can until you know better.

Then when you know better, do better!

Now I know better…and I can…

• do better

• share this with my kids, grandkids and others

• safely sanitize my home moving forward

  Thank you Annie for making the world a safer place for families by sharing your story!