HOW IN THE WORLD CAN I GET MY KIDS TO KEEP THERE ROOMS ORGANIZED AND CLEAN??

Sophia - posted on 09/08/2012

I am not being funny -- my son never had a clean room that last more than days. It use to drive me / my husband nuts. BUT I CAN TELL YOU.. as he got older I thank GOD that is my only problem with him. He does not smoke,drink, have kids, in jail or have been to jail, work every summer, did the best he could in school,did not drop out of school and is away at school. And follow every rule but keeping his room clean. He is now 20 years old and we talk everynight on the phone about his class / roomates. Thank GOD .

Shauna - posted on 06/13/2012

I came up with a chore chart for my four yr old. Which consists of picking up his toys and clothes and taking out the small trash in the bathroom. At the end of the week for each chore completes he gets a dollar a day. At the end of the month I will take him to the toy store to pick out whatever toy he wants. So far it has wOrked. Since I began this my house has been clean every night before bed.

User - posted on 05/07/2012

if by what you mean "clean" is "picked up" and "neat and orderly"- try putting toys in batches.Get them toy chests large enough to contain majority of toys.LOCK THEM. let them play with just what's out-if they start whining missing a toy-tell them if they want it, they should "TRADE" it with whatever is out.Try to make it a game-act like you're a "shopkeeper" and is willing to "swap" toys.This will rule out which toys they really do play with and those they don't anymore.Those should go to donations already or better yet-yard sales.

Lyndsey - posted on 07/29/2009

it depends on how old they are. my son is two and i certaintly do not expect him to keep his room organized and clean by himself. but i did buy a shelf with seperate bins for seperate items, ie cars, trains, blocks. before his nap we clean together and before his bedtime we clean together. if its a little messy dont fret about it. lifes to short to be stressed because kids cant keep a room clean. if anything, get on the floor and play with them and then when your done lead by example by starting to pick up and then tell them that mommy needs help cleaning and that you know that they can do a much more better job than mommy can.

Alisha - posted on 07/28/2009

With my son we have a cleaning routine. Every night before he gets into bed I say its time to pick up your toys so you can have them ready for tomorrow. And I start picking some up and then ask him to help and he is always willing to help me out. If he doesn't want to then he goes to time out until he picks up his toys but I never usually have to do that. He loves to help out and help clean the house when I do. but if you implement a routine in picking up their toys after playing with them or before bed then they would start doing it on a regular basis. Might take some time but should work

Debbie - posted on 07/27/2009

Something that my mom used to do is separate everything in the room with us into boxes. One box for donations, one for garbage & the last for the items we would keep. This way it taught us to be organised. Eventually we started to do it ourselves, sometimes with coaxing from mom. Kids will quickly realize that they do not want their favorite toys going to someone else or to the garbage.

Colette - posted on 07/21/2009

well i was like that and my mum told me if i did not clean my room then i could not go out to play or you could try and make a game out of it with the girls

Krista - posted on 07/20/2009

This comes down to a case of just plain discipline. Tell them if they cannot keep their rooms clean then you'll have no choice but to give all their toys to children that will appreciate them and will help put them away.

Anna - posted on 07/20/2009

only take out one thing at a time and if you want to do something else or play with something else you have to clean up what you're playing with first. that is what i try to do with my kids.