Cleaning Their Rooms

My idea would be to come up with a schedule for them to do over a few days or a week. One night do a certain part or item and then the next night do the next item. I know when I'm cleaning it helps to break it down into smaller pieces so it doesn't seem so overwhelming. I know this sometimes helps my son who is 10.

hey R.! here's what worked for me.first of all, we sat down and talkedit all out. then i took EVERYTHING away.down to dresser and bed. i started a "token" system.(poker chips) started on a weekly basis.(now we're monthly.) i give them 10 tokens, and a list ofdaily chores and expectations. (brushing teeth, taking trash out,cleaning your room,etc...)there is a list (1-10) of privleges.(snack,tv,games,phone,activities,and earning back belongings)i have a whiteboard i keep in the kitchen,to post eveyone's token amount,and a running list of things you can do to earn one back,which takes initiative,it helps so i'm not yelling(all the time,anyway :] )it gives them the control. now i can say "it seems to me, you're having a hrd time making good decisions..." rather than "why didn't you..." or "i told you to..." i'd be happy to help if you need some explaing or anything. God bless p.s. also is great for getting rid of all the crud!!!

R.
Have you ever looked at flylady.com, they all kinds of cleaning help and such. For the kids they use the "house fairy" system. Many peopel rave about it. Good luck!!

Tell them if you have to go upstairs to clean their room your bringing a trash bag with you and putting all the toys you find on the floor in the bag and giving them to kids that will appreciate them. Or whatever toy you find on the floor you take it away for a couple of days and let them know that when they learn to take better care of their things they will get it back

You have lots of good ideas on here already and I would tell you what I would do. Give each kid a list when they get home and say you will be doing this or there will be no games tv phone etc. This is the time you have to do it in. Then ask them if they have questions. Leave them to it and check on them and encourage encourage encourage not yell n harp on them. Say your doing a good job Im proud of you then walk away or say I have a few minutes do you want some help? Just make sure you help and not get sucked into cleaning the rest of the room! :) If its a BIG disaster be reasonaable. It wasnt messed up in a day your not going to fix it in a day....well unless you save it for a Saturday or something.

Once the room is caught up and looking good give them a well done and now we are going to do these things daily and yes I believe in rewards every once in a while. You can figure out whats best for you 3 days a week every two weeks or once a month etc. Maybe it could be a coupon for some special one on one time with you, some cookies, spcial meal, some girly glamour (fingernail polish, hair accesory, earings necklace) Whatever you feel but I do think this helps and encourages them and lets them know you are watching them and know they are doing a good job. In between you have verbal praise.

I WOULDNT stand over them and tell them every move to make. They get to reliant on that and will not be able to make decistions for themselves because you usually tell them what to do. Just give em guidelines of what needs to be done and let them choose how to do it

Hope you can figure out so you can all be at peace.
M.

Ooo one last thing. They are kids and they arent perfect if you see something that is not as neat as you would like tell them it would look better if it was neater or say something like "I like the fact you hung your clothes but they would look better if you straightened them". Then show them how. Its going to take a while to make all the miner adjustments.

R.,

I feel you, hon! I have bagged up whatever is on the floor after they "cleaned their room" and made it go away (into storage...couldn't actually throw it away!), harped, helped them clean only to go into a livid rage seeing all of the broken stuff, lost laundry, mess and food wrappers that weren't allowed....ACK! However, my kids ARE very good with lists. Maybe a wipe board of things to check off. Like: Dusting, Laundry, Make Bed, Books, Dishes, and whatever so they can check it off. If they check off something unjustly, something leaves the room. Good luck!

If it isn't clean then they do NOTHING until it is done - , NO TV, NO phone, NO CELL PHONE OR TEXTING (if that applies), NO going anywhere, NO video games...nothing. I can't imagine that they wouldn't be bored enough for that to work! My kids know that if they do not do their stuff then do not ask me for anything/to go anywhere. Be consistent and you will get to the point where you won't really have to say too much about it. Also, the times I have had to do it myself (which was in the beginning mainly) I took a pen and paper and for every job of theirs I had to do, I gave them one of mine and took something of theirs away. That way, not only did they STILL have to clean they also had to get on it to get their favorite thing back. I think that would be quite motivating!
I hope you find something that works! When you do, stick to it everyday and you will have won the majority of your battle! Good luck!

ok so some ppl wont see this as the best but it has worked for over 3 months now for me. so one day i gave up i had enough i had been doin it all to try and get them to clean threatened, yelled, grounded ou name it but nothin worked i think the problem was 1 they were just to overwhelmed and doidnt know where to start and 2 my standards of hw i wanted it were pretty high, so i cleaned it one day all by myself and got everything where i wanted it and how it would be best used. then everynight at bedtime they have 15 min b4 i tuck them in to gety anything put back where it belongs if it is not done by time i get in there they first have to get out of bed and put it away were i tell them it goes but then they are also grounded the next day from touching anything in there. it has worked and they are getting good at it now bc they really know everyuthing has a place.

I have had this problem with mine.
I have taken everything from them. Friends, phone, toys, TV, computer, EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!
When they have nothing to do and they KNOW that it won't be coming back and you are going to stick to it, they will get the picture and do what they need to do.
They will test you to see if they can be stronger than you, hang in there and stay strong.
I have even gone so far as to stop all activities, even their sports if they get bull headed enough.

Hi R.,
I really liked Kim B's advice bc she got in there with the kids. My boys are overwhelmed just as much when they try to clean their rooms. My 8 year old is very sloppy, but when we clean the room together, he's excited, plays with his toys more, and tries harder to keep it clean. Of course it always reverts back, but when I need to have him pickup, I get him in there and tell him where things go and let him actually do it. I think revisiting the initial cleanup helps alot.

Now for my 2 older boys, 15 & 16, its different and they have busy lives; getting them to clean just requires me to tell them they have so much time to get it done. I usually will say something like: its thursday evening, you have until sunday evening to have this done or you will lost privileges beginning monday. Then I tell them what I expect done in the room and I tell them what privileges they will lose. It usually works. Good Luck.

Give them a time frame (end of the day, weekend, etc...then anything on the floor or in it's right place will be bagged up and thrown away (you don't have to do it for real, bag it up and put it in the garage r somewhere they don't know). Just a thought. another exhausting suggestion is sit in there with them and tell them where everything goes and how to do it. I will sometime sit and organize my cild's book shelf while directing him to put his thing away. Good luck!!!