To prepare for the stampede of guests known as the December Holiday Season, I need all the help I can get with cleaning my home. Fortunately there are two pint-sized creatures that live under my roof whom I can authoritatively put to work to get the place in order:  my kids

The question is though, how do I motivate my kids to help with cleaning? Some mommy friends and I were musing on this as we looked at our bundles of joy who are so competent at making messes, but somehow less capable of cleaning them up.

So in an effort to inspire help from our little rug-rats, here are some ideas to get kids to assist with cleaning around the house.

1.     For the younger set (2—5 year olds), start with easy, visible tasks.

If you successfully get kids to help in household cleaning from an early age, you’ve just given yourself a gift that keeps on giving. To help inspire young kids, start with small and easy tasks that give them a sense of immediate achievement like putting recycling items in the appropriate bin, removing toys from the hallway or straightening pillows on the couch. These tasks are simple and can make even a 2-year-old feel like he’s the chief helper in the household. It’s all about ego-stroking to get these little guys to do our will, people!

2.     Be specific.

“Clean your room” can be intimidating to a child, so try to provide specific tasks like “Do you want to pick up your dolls or your clothes first?”  “Do you want to clear off your rug or your bed first?”  This lets them feel like they have some ownership over the cleaning process.  Just hope your kid isn’t like mine and while agreeing to pick up her dolls first, Elle gets easily distracted and I come back 5 minutes later to see that she’s put away the dolls but has created a tent-city for the stuffed animals with her clothes.

3.     Make Cleaning fun!

“Fun Cleaning” may seem like an oxymoron for us, but for children, playing games can make tidying up and cleaning entertaining. One of my friend’s favorite games is setting a timer to see how many items can be picked up before the buzzer goes off. She makes it a joint family activity and if they beat the clock, they all get to sit down to some ice cream!

4.     Let Kids Pick Out the Tools.

There are ways to let your children feel more invested in the tidy-up process. For example, you can let your kid pick out their own storage bins. They may be more encouraged to clean up and stay organized if their trains or doll accessories are going into a special place that they’ve chosen. The containers don’t have to be store-bought. For example, Elle likes to keep trinkets in a fancy used chocolate box. But I learned the hard way that I should keep the used containers within reason. I’m embarrassed to say that my 3-year-old, Max, likes to keep his alphabet magnets in an old whiskey tin that my husband received for being a groomsmen in a wedding. Now when people walk into my son’s room, they think he’s a fan of single-malt scotch.

5.     Be a Role Model.

OK ladies, this is where we may all have to step-up a little. It’s hard for me to ask my kids to make their beds when mine looks like someone just wrestled a dog in it and I can’t expect my kids to pick up their clothes if my closet looks like the aftermath of a Black Friday sale at Macy's. So expect your kids to keep as tidy a room as you do and nothing more. Or in my case, I acknowledge that anything that sprung from my loins will not have inherited a particularly strong “cleaning gene.”

While preparing your home for holiday guests is sometimes as daunting as making sure those holiday cookies don’t burn, these ideas may help encourage even your littlest ones to lend a hand.

How do you get your kids to help with cleaning?