I hope I’m not speaking too quickly here but I think, I hope, I might have just found a solution to get my kids to clean their room! When it’s tidy up time, my kids turn into these whiny, helpless monsters who can’t seem to pick up a book off the floor. I’m sure many of you moms can relate. (If not, please share your secret!)
Anyway, I got tired of having to clean their room with them. I felt they needed to learn some responsibility and that they were old enough to clean up their own messes. I came up with a solution that needed to be tried and tested. I make them clean their room every Wednesday. I put on music and tried to make it fun. It wasn’t working. So I told them whatever wasn’t cleaned up by dinnertime got put into a bag and put away until they were ready to start cleaning their room.
I did that for 4 weeks. 4 weeks! I was beginning to think my idea wasn’t working. That is, until one day they asked for those toys. I got out one bag and told them they had to take them out and put them away in order to keep them. It worked! Then this past Wednesday, I announced it was tidy up time. They went straight to their rooms and got to work. In half the time it usually takes them, they got the whole room clean and proudly showed me!
I hope I’m not speaking out of turn and that this streak continues on. If anything I think consistency might be paying off!
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