With the children spending more time at home during the summer holidays, it is crucial to ensure that their living space is clean and healthy. Every parent will recognise the feeling of trepidation after a long day of entertaining the children. Now that the fun is over, the inevitability of cleaning up is unavoidable. Often the easiest solution is to spend a frantic ten minutes restoring order but sometimes a more thorough clean is required to help maintain a healthy home.
Joanne Kang, Lead Research Scientist in Microbiology, Dyson shares essential and useful tips on how to deep clean children's bedrooms.
Declutter and organise
Before cleaning begins, look around the room to see if anything is out of place and think about how your child's items are stored. Could this be improved with storage solutions? According to Gayatri Gandhi, founder of Joy Factory and India's first Konmari Certified Expert Consultant, organizing your child's bedroom can be a fun and rewarding experience for both you and your child.
The key is to approach it with a positive attitude and a willingness to let go of items that no longer serve a purpose. One of the best tips is to involve your child in the process. Ask them what items they want to keep, donate, or throw away, and encourage them to make decisions based on what brings them joy. This helps them learn the value of their possessions and fosters a sense of responsibility and ownership over their space".
Clean the bed
While bedding can look clean, mattresses can often be a hotbed of microscopic life, which can have an impact on your child's well-being while they sleep. Dust mites and their faeces, bacteria, viruses, pollen and other allergens make up the complex matrix that is household dust, which also exists in your mattress. By cleaning mattresses every six months or so, you can reduce the levels of dust, microscopic life and allergens within them.
- Remove and wash bedding on a 60°C or 90°C wash, which will help reduce allergens.
- For the mattress, use your vacuum in Boost mode with the Hair screw tool attachment to remove dust mites and skin flakes.
- Under the bed, Dyson's low-reach adaptor will help access those hard-to-reach places – where dust tends to gather, and mites thrive.
Vacuum the floor
Depending on your type of flooring, the approach will differ. For hard floors, start by vacuuming the whole surface – using the right accessories to get into cracks and crevices where dust accumulates. Once the floor is clear, use child-friendly disinfectant soap and water to remove stubborn stains and any residual materials.
For carpeted rooms, follow these tips to ensure you are vacuuming in the correct way:
- Vacuum slowly. This agitates dust and dirt within the carpet fibres and increases the likelihood of their removal.
- Focus on one spot (but not too much). Repeated attention on a single area yields results, but more than three times provides minimal increase.
- Use the right tools. It takes a degree of effort but it's worth it. A stubborn dirt brush will remove those enduring remnants of muddy footwear.
- Don't neglect the hidden places. Concealed carpeted areas are ideal breeding grounds for dust mites and where allergens can get trapped, so occasionally moving larger furniture is advised.
- While microscopic dust particles may not be visible to the naked eye, the Dyson V12 Detect Slim and V15 Detect cordless vacuums are equipped with dust illumination technology to reveal invisible dust present on hard floors, so you don't miss anything.
Refresh the curtains and blinds
It's surprising to discover how much dust can gather on curtains and blinds. Depending on the material, removing and washing curtains can help to reduce allergens. You may use Dyson vacuum cleaner attachment combi tool on curtains and blinds to remove excess dust and allergens – all in all, leaving children's bedrooms cleaner.
Some other areas to keep in mind while cleaning:
- Vacuum the soft toys as dust mites and skin flakes can reside on them
- Clean and vacuum the drawers and wardrobes as some allergens may hide there including dust mites and pet allergens
- Do not forget to vacuum the play mats
By following these tips and taking the time to deep clean your child's bedroom, you'll create a healthier living environment and set a good example for your children on the importance of cleanliness and organization.
