I'm a mum and this one trick gets my toddlers to clean up their toys in seconds: 'Anyone can do this'

A mum-of-two uses children's show 'Danny Go!' to teach her kids about cleaningShe puts on a 'cleaning song' whenever she wants her kids to pick up their toys 

A mum revealed a simple trick she uses to immediately get her toddlers to pick up their toys and put them away – and all parents can benefit from it.

Shanelle uses live-action educational children’s show ‘Danny Go!’ to get her children to clean up after themselves.

The mum-of-two specifically plays the show’s ‘Swab the Deck’ song that sees its characters clean up the pirate ship they live on.

Using the song as a mode of instruction, Shanelle gets her sons to keep their play area tidy and learn how to do basic chores from a young age.

The tired mum claimed the simple idea was genius and worked every time – with her kids continuing to clean up and sing the song even after the show was over.

Shanelle posted a video of the process, revealing how simple it was to teach her children how to clean.

‘If you want your kids to learn how to clean up, you’ve got to put on Danny Go’s ‘Swab the Deck’,’ she said in the clip.

The mum then revealed that the song has a 20 second timer where all the children watching are meant to pick up their toys – and it actually works.

‘You do the same with your toys and your playthings,’ Danny tells the children as he cleans up his pirate ship in the TV show.

Shanelle revealed that her children were still cleaning even after the timer finished, and didn’t stop until all their toys were put away.

Many slammed the mum for using a children’s show to parent her kids.

‘How about you stop leaving the TV to teach your kids and take a more personal approach to it?’ a man said angrily.

‘Outsourcing your job as a parent to the television,’ another wrote. ‘Yikes.’

‘Although this sounds impressive, the long term negative effects of exposure to TV at such a young age is backed by science,’ a third said. ‘I hope you can reduce screen time and that your child isn’t hooked to the dopamine kick they get from the exposure.’

A mum revealed a simple trick she uses to immediately get her toddlers to pick up their toys and put them away – and all parents can benefit from it

But others defended her approach, and related it back to their own childhoods.

‘I don’t know about you, but when I was a kid, I learned to clean up with Barney’s song,’ a woman said. ‘This is nothing new and there’s nothing wrong with it.’

‘I feel like the take away here is that if you make cleaning a fun and family friendly activity it helps your children stay engaged. The reason this video works is because it feels like a game rather a ‘chore’,’ another said.

‘It’s not outsourcing parenting, it’s making a boring thing fun,’ a woman said. ‘This way they don’t associate cleaning with boredom/expectation/punishment, just that it’s a normal part of life that you can make fun.’

She added, ‘And a parent could do that on their own, but if it’s coming from the TV it’s not seen as a command but a suggestion, which works better on toddlers and they won’t develop demand avoidance and procrastination/anxiety that way.’