Seattle-Area Families Find Unexpected Learning Opportunities at Home
Photo:
Chiara Labbé cleans the bathroom. Image courtesy of Cheryl Sasso-Labbé
Cleaning the bathroom
Chiara Labbé, age 11, already handles plenty of chores, from dishes to setting the table to cleaning her room to putting away clean laundry. (Bless her!)
After two weeks in complete quarantine, she got to add a new item to her skill set:
“My almost 12-year-old got a life-skills lesson today in cleaning and safely disinfecting a bathroom,” reported mom Cheryl Sasso-Labbé.
It was Mom’s idea, not Chiara’s, but Cheryl said that Chiara actually really enjoyed it. They cleaned two bathrooms in their Redmond home together, with Cheryl giving instructions on how to do it properly, working from top to bottom.
“We normally have a cleaning person who comes every two weeks. We’ve put her on paid leave so it’s up to us to keep the bathrooms clean now,” Cheryl said. “It’s a great skill for her to learn since she’s home. She’s got the time.”
Chiara is the oldest of three siblings. Next up, Cheryl is planning to give her 9-year-old the same lesson. Once the two big kids get up to speed, Cheryl figures she can assign them a bathroom each.
“It went very well.” Cheryl said. “Even the toilet. She was not opposed to it at all.”
