The Easy Way to get Kids to Clean Their Rooms.

The Easy Way to get kids to clean their rooms.

By Susie E. Caron © 7/5/15

Getting kids to ‘clean their rooms’ is as much of a struggle for parents as it is difficult for kids. Parents ask, “Why can’t they clean their rooms quickly, or even at all? Kids are likewise puzzled because, quite frankly they don’t fully understand the concept of ‘clean your room.’ What does ‘clean your room’ actually mean to a child?  If children don’t understand, even after you’ve shown them one hundred times, then what can parents do to get the job done? I'm here to help.

What you Don't want to do:

1.       Don’t give in and do it all yourself. You will only be teaching your kids to be more passive, lazy or resistant because they know, in the end, you’ll get frustrated enough to do it yourself (or that you’ll do it over again after they ‘tried.’)

2.       Don’t spend hours attempting the ‘get them to do it’ . Whether you yell, threaten, bargain, and promise losses and gains for your kids. This just does not work for two reasons.

    a. Kids figure out fairly easily what your ‘breaking point’ is. If you only ‘draw the line’ and they        finally do the job after 1 hour, or after you threaten to take ‘ever getting to go to the movies          ever again’ away, or if it takes you 6 hours of frustration and anxiety, they already know.

    b.The only thing this duration in time provides is tons of attention, and I mean lots and lots of         attention that they are getting for NOT DOING what they were asked to do.

3.       Don’t give up. This little task of cleaning their bedroom is preparation for life. It teaches kids to really look at their environment, to categorize, organize, sort, prioritize, and other important life skills. This is important teaching.

Here’s what you DO want to do instead:

1.       Tell the kids Saturday morning is ‘clean your room day.’ (Pick any day but stick to it as much as possible.) Post it on the refrigerator and calendar.

2.       Tell them they have one hour and their job is to get ‘everything off the floor’ so you can come in and vacuum.(Note: If you prefer, you can just do these first two steps once per week, then add #3-#7 below on a different schedule. For example: monthly, before birthdays, Christmas and other holidays.)

3.       Tell each child you want him/her to fill up three boxes, (brown paper bags or totes.) Mark each one this way:

    a.Throw Out

    b.Give Away,

   c.Keep in the attic (basement, garage etc.) so they can pull them out to trade sometime for              other toys they are not currently playing with. (Example: summer toys vs winter toys)

4.       Wake them up, give them a friendly breakfast and tell them they have one hour.

5.       They can have TV or play time only AFTER their floors are empty and bags are filled. You don’t care what they put in each one, but they must be filled.

6.       Now  don’t go back into their rooms for one hour, (unless they are very, very little and you stay to help them learn this picking up, sorting task.) If they are 5-10 years old, just go do something noisy like vacuum somewhere in the house for that hour.

7.       When they are done, they must come get you to inspect and then they can take the bags to the destinations indicated on them.

8.       Tell them “Thank you.” And give them a pat on the back or a hug.

They may not finish in one hour, but don’t let that bother you. Just hold to, “No TV or playing until this job is done." Check on them only once per hour. This gives you time to do other things. Plus, If you stand your ground, they will figure out, the best thing they could do is clean up fast. Don’t expect perfection, but practicing this little task goes a long way to teaching them to get it done, so they can play.

Was this article helpful? I hope so because I’m writing for you! Let me know. Leave me a comment, suggestion or question below. I love to answer you. Share social too! Let your friends know about this, because,

Twee’ means you and me
Working together to build great kids.

Susie E. Caron

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