My Son's Cleaning Obsession

I can’t believe it has been almost 5 months since my last post. At that time I had promised to myself to start writing regularly… Well… promises are meant to be broken!!! Anyway, a lot has happened in the last few months, and I might come back to some issues at a later stage, however, in this post I wanted to write about my LO’s obsession with cleaning…

Before I start, I would like to update that my 2 year old son has been going to a Montessori nursery since the beginning of September. As indicated in previous posts, he had been going to a non-Montessori nursery cum day care for around 3 months. He still goes there in the afternoon (2pm-5pm) since I work full time. I used to do some Montessori activities with him previously, but have reduced it now since he is going to a Montessori nursery. At home I am concentrating more on practical life. He is mostly a pleasant guy and does not generally fuss too much. The teachers at the non-Montessori nursery were happy with him and the teacher at the Montessori nursery was also happy with him since he settled in much quicker than the other kids and she even said he is ready to work!!!

As such I was really surprised when she told me one morning during drop off that we need to talk and that I should set up an appointment. I just could not wait for such an appointment, so insisted that she should atleast tell me briefly what the problem was, else I would die worrying!!! In short what she has told me is that DS gets upset often during the day. In the mornings he is a little sad when I leave, but becomes alright during the Circle Time. After that he goes around doing things in the class, but mostly (80%) of the time he gravitates only towards the brooms and other cleaning equipment!!! Whenever the teacher tries to distract him and encourages him to try his hands at something else, he makes a really sad face and is completely not interested. She said that there were 'classroom expectations' and that she would like him to do more sensorial and maybe a little of language.

Well... I was a little relieved. First, because this is not news to me and second because I do not think it is such a big issue.

DS has always loved to clean, since he was 9-10 months old. I know a lot of children like to clean, but DS is completely OBSESSED with it. He can just clean all day long, at home he has his own cleaning caddy which has a duster, water spray, sponge and cloth; he has a little broom and we have recently brought him a Philips hand vacuum. We have a cleaner who comes everyday for an hour to clean the house and DS is sooooo excited to see him, he will run to the door screaming 'Uncle, Uncle'... And then he was say - 'Now, Clean Clean', he will then lead the cleaner to the place where the big vacuum is kept, and give directions... For a whole hour he will just be around the cleaner giving directions, showing him where the floor is still dirty, he will switch on and switch off the vacuum as required when it has to be moved from one room to another... As soon as the cleaner puts down the vacuum, even for a minute, he will pick up the vacuum and start cleaning... When the cleaner finally finishes and the vacuum has to be put back, he will cry (this is probably the only time in the day that he cries)... It takes us a good half an hour to distract him away from the vacuum... This is why we brought him a little hand vacuum, but he prefers the bigger one... We are thinking of just hiding away the vacuum and using a broom for the cleaning...

Apart from this, he will sometimes wash the table with his cleaning caddy, and also wipe the furniture with a baby wipe. He will sometimes help me put the laundry in the washing machine, switch it on, help to hang the clothes to dry and so on... As such, I am not surprised that he gravitates towards the cleaning activities and does not want to do anything else.

He is only 2 years old and I think 'classroom expectations' just should not be there... That is the reason I put him in a Montessori set up!!! I think it is fine for him to continue doing what is doing as long as he is happy... I don’t want him to be forced into doing other things... This will completely defeat the purpose... Having said that it would be nice if he worked on the sensorial and language activities... I just think the teacher needs to think out of the box and get creative. With the Montessori philosophy of following the child, I am sure this cleaning obsession could be channeled towards the other areas.

I did meet the teacher for a discussion later and explained my point of view. That will come in my next post…