How to Encourage Your Kids to Clean Their Rooms

Enccouraging your kids to clean their rooms starts with modeling what you wish them to do

No matter how much you tell your kids to clean their rooms, when you check, you may find one of several things happening. Your kid may be haphazardly sifting through the stuff on the floor, may be playing with toys or otherwise seeming oblivious to your request, or may seem frozen with inaction. Our children's rooms often get beyond what they can deal with, leaving them to ignore, do nothing or stress out. As a parent, you can help your kids learn to clean their room through modeling and encouragement..

Instructions

1. Teach family responsibilities. Give young children chores they can accomplish. This may be taking a dust cloth and throwing it away or bringing you a dust pan. As they mature, allow them greater responsibility, from doing dishes and sweeping to making sure their clothes are placed into a laundry basket. Don't expect perfection, especially during those early stages, and don't be overly critical. Praise the effort. View these responsibilities as learning opportunities. Be sure you stay age-appropriate with your expectations.

2. Model what you wish kids to learn. If you leave the kitchen messy after a meal or leave the house a disaster day after day, don't get angry when your children follow your example. Encourage your kids to clean their rooms by modeling how to do so in the rest of the house. Make keeping the house clean a family project, with each child having responsibility for specific chores. Provide lots of encouragement, and don't just tell your children what to do, but show them how. Expect to "show" several times before your child gets the hang of what to do.

3. Be specific about what you want your child to do. Generalities tend to be lost on children. The younger the children, the more specific direction they'll need. Asking them to clean their rooms may seem to them as difficult as flying to the moon. Instead, make clear exactly what you expect. Sometimes the mess is so overwhelming your children have no idea how to begin. Provide a system to help them get started, such as having them follow steps: first, picking up all the toys and putting them away; second, shelving all books; third, putting all dirty clothes in the laundry basket, and so on. If they can read, you can create a list of what needs to be done and in what order. Provide enough storage boxes and toy chests for their possessions or cleaning becomes simply an effort in frustration.

4. Work as a team. If the disorder is more than your child can handle, especially for a younger child, make cleaning a one-on-one time. With younger children, this becomes a time to show how to put things away. With older children, this time of cleaning up the room together can lower barriers and become a time your child opens up to you about things going on in his life. Cleaning the room together takes away the aspect of cleaning as a chore and turns it into a bonding time. As your child learns how to clean, you can more and more allow him to clean his room on his own.

5. Encourage generosity in sharing toys and other items with those in need. Often children accumulate many more toys, books and other possessions than they can possibly use. As children mature, they stop playing with some toys, moving on to other books and more mature pursuits. Encourage your children to consider children without as many toys and books as they have, and suggest they pass on what they no longer want or use. Provide a container for them to place those items they are willing to part with as they clean.

References

• Family Education: Getting Kids to Clean Their Rooms
• Curbly: Teach Your Kids to Clean Their Own Rooms