Seriously this is the most used phrase in our home on a daily basis. It’s used even more than the word NO! Clean You’re Room!!! I don’t know how many times I have to say those words to my kids. It seems they’re cleaning up their rooms more than they’re playing.Take today for instance, they woke up, played for a bit, got dressed, the usual morning routine. I told them, go tidy up the guest room (where they usually play/watch TV) and tidy up your room and then we’ll make some apple cinnamon muffins. They’re only 3 and 5, I don’t expect a full on cleaning session to go on, but the clothes everywhere, the toys and books everywhere it drives me insane. Tidy up has been told to them to mean just put things where they belong, clothes in the dirty pile, or in the drawers where they belong, beds made, books on the shelf, toys put neatly away so that they’re not all over the floor.
This is a DAY LONG thing with them, they’ve taken up their morning, it’s now 1:45pm and they’re still up there. I go check on them every so often to see what they’ve accomplished and it’s been nothing. They’ve snuck in to watch TV (which has now been unplugged and turned to face the wall), they play with their toys, they fight, and then when I come up, it’s usually Lyric who throws a tantrum because now I’m getting angry.
We’ve tried chore charts, time outs don’t work, taking things away doesn’t work, and I’m at a complete loss. They’ll spend the entire day cleaning if that’s what it comes to, no outside, no TV, no fun things, NO MUFFINS until it’s done. Not that it’s going to matter because tomorrow it will just be the same thing over again.
Give me some hints, some tips, ANYTHING! HELP! What do you do to get your kiddos to clean up/tidy up their rooms?
3 comments:
Okay here is where it pays off to get your kids things they really want but don't really need. Take the computer untill the room is clean and they get it back, same thing with game stations, ipods, cellphones if all eles fails the T.V. this has been usfull in my home. It may not always but has so far :)
I have my girls clean in short burst. Set a timer for 5 min and we race to put away the toys. Or I keep some stuff up high in the closet. If they want to play with those they have to clean up the stuff already out. I have been teaching them to clean as they go. So when I catch them playing with something new we put away the old.
we pray for a miracle
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