This post is sponsored by Dyson and Best Buy and includes a review of the new Dyson DC65.
Does your child have assigned chores at home? Mine do. Since we live on a small farm, my husband and I rely on their help with all the chores that need to be done around here.
But you don't have to live on a farm in order for your child to help out with the housework. And I find that by giving my kids daily duties that they are responsible for is a great way to teach them a sense of responsibility and to be neat and organized. Now I'm not saying my kids ARE neat and organized, BUT we're learning those skills every day through small assignments.
My kids are close enough in age that we trade chores back and forth every other day. So for example, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays my daughter feeds the chickens, prepares the table before meals, and folds up blankets, while my son empties the recycling containers, wipes off the table after meals, and cleans the stairs. Then on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays they switch. Once a week one of the kids dusts while the other one vacuums. And every evening the kids take turns bottle feeding the calves, or they do it together, my daughter feeding one little calf while my son feeds the other. During these cold winter months, they are also in charge of collecting sticks for kindling for our wood stove, and sometimes they stack wood after their Daddy finishes chopping it.
Anyway, I've put together a few blank bilingual chore charts for you to use, if you'd like to. They are handy for helping us to remember to do the little assignments and establish a sense of pride, I think, in knowing that they've contributed to the running of our household.
Because my son suffers from some serious allergies to mold and other allergens, I have to be mindful of what chores he can do and the tools he uses to do them.
That is why I'm really excited about the new Dyson DC65.
The Review
When we got the new Dyson DC65 Animal it was sort of like my fairy godmother granted my biggest wish: a deep cleaning vacuum that can handle the high amount of traffic and resulting debris that goes through my house and floors (small farm, remember?). From grimy dirt, leaves, twigs, pine needles, and even some stuff from the cow pen that we won't mention here, my carpet collects all sorts of stuff on a daily basis.
My family think I'm a vacuuming maniac because I can frequently be seen lugging a heavy vacuum around the house several times a day. I may or may not have a glassy look in my eye when I do it. (I'm not OCD, I just am determined to try and have clean carpets.) My kids "vacuum" once a week, but our old one is a monster that's pretty heavy to push, especially on rugs. Instead, they prefer to vacuum the stairs with our little cordless Dyson Digital Slim. (And, okay, I've been using that amazing little cordless on the rest of the carpet lately instead of The Monster.)
Anyway, if your home is like mine, it has a combination of floors - some carpet, some hardwood, some tile, etc. Well, I was super excited when I found out the DC65 does them ALL.
Not only that but it is SO LIGHTWEIGHT that my kids can easily push it around. It makes this particular chore easier for them and its modern design delights my robot-loving children making vacuuming suddenly fun again. (Vacuuming is now accompanied by lots of R2-D2-type beeping going on.)
When I first saw the DC65, I was skeptical because compared to our old one, there just doesn't seem to be a whole lot to the vacuum. I mean, the box says it has twice the suction (180AW of suction, to be precise) of any other vacuum, so you would think it would be a gargantuan monster, pero no, it's smaller. But the new configuration of bristles dig deeper into carpets to remove more dirt. When I turned it on and started vacuuming for the first time, I listened with a sort of horrific fascination to all the stuff in my carpets and rugs getting SUCKED away. (My Tía Visi's voice echoed inside my head: "¡Ay! ¡Qué asco!") AND I can use the long-reach telescopic wand to swish away all those telarañas that gather dust in the corners of my rooms.
I also love that it has a tangle-free turbine. If you only knew how much time I've spent with a pair of scissors and needle-nose pliers trying to remove all the hair, thread, yarn, fabric strips, and even pipe cleaners that inevitably fall to the floor in this house only to get sucked up into the vacuum cleaner and wrapped around the turbine. But no more! Because the counter-rotating heads with brushes remove hair and dirt. The DC65 is built to survive 10 years, and for the price, it better last that long. And if it does? Then it is totally worth it.
But you know what the best part is? The remodeled airflows help remove more dirt, dust, and allergens. That's a big plus with me because of my son's allergies. He hasn't had any major coughing fits after using the vacuum. There's no bags I have to deal with, either. I just remove the bin from the vacuum, hold it over the trash bin and push a button.
The DC65 is currently only available at Best Buy stores across the country. You can buy the Multi-Floor for $499, or the Animal (comes w/ TFT and dusting brush) for $599, or the Animal Complete (comes with extra tools and Zorb plus TFT and dusting brush) for $649. And it comes in three colors: Platinum, Purple, and Fuchsia.
Disclaimer: I received this product for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this post are strictly mine.
