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How can you encourage a 4 year to clean up??

Sabrina - posted on 06/20/2009 ( 6 moms have responded )

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I have a 4 year old daughter whos almost 5 and she still doesnt like cleaning up after herself shes got issues listening, she cant sit still, shes usually very energetic, very deffensive, does the oposite of what i tell her to do or she will sit there an stare at me giving me this stupid eye balling staire pretending she doesnt know what i just said to her......im tired of cleaning up after her, shes old enough to clean up after herself now and yet she still refuses to....im a single working mother so i dont have help at home.... any ideas on how i can get my child to clean up after herself and listen better???

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6 Comments

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Misty - posted on 06/21/2009

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I always have mine clean up before we move on to something new- whether it's going somewhere, eating, getting different toys out, etc. They used to drag EVERY toy we had out but then they would be overwhelmed (with reason) when it came time to clean up. Now that we do that, clean up is a breeze!

Christy - posted on 06/21/2009

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I would always turn cleaning into a game like how many toys are the same color and then how fast can you put them in the toy box things like that and of course I would reward her after she did a good job, whether it was a certain piece of fruit she really liked or maybe depending I would give her like 50 cents stuff like that and then she would get a sticker added to her chart

Brenda - posted on 06/20/2009

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i read somewhere that their brains at that age are not capable of cleaning more than maybe 5-6 things at one time so let her clean up a little and then maybe play a game of how many things she can clean up and then reward her than tell her that is her job to clean her things up or sing clean up clean up...good luck

Jaime - posted on 06/20/2009

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Have you ever watched the Big Comfy Couch?? When it is tidy up time in our house we do the 10 second tidy (we do stretch it out until everything gets put away) My girls have also learned to tidy up one thing before they get something new out to play with.

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of times I end up doing most of the clean up, but as long as I am not picking up after them constantly I am happy.

We have also started a chore board where every night they get a sticker for the stuf they accomplished during the day. At the end of the week they will get a small allowance. It is working out great!

Liza - posted on 06/20/2009

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I was also a single mom working full time when my daughter was that age... I refused to clean up after her. I made it into a game and eventually she realized that it wasn't an option, it was something that she just HAD to do. I'm sure there was a threat involving a trash bag at some point too. :) In fact, she's 9 & I still use that one on her. I keep one in her closet, as a reminder of what will happen if she doesn't pick them up.

Krissy - posted on 06/20/2009

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There is a wonderful song that my oldest daughters teacher used in preschool it is called the cleanup song.My children all loved it they know when the song comes on it is time to pick up and they do! I found it at walmart on one of those kids songs cds I used it for all of my children and they looked at it like a game instead of having to clean up. Good Luck.

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