‘Why,
Whines, and What’s in for me'
The quickest way to deal with the “why do I have to
clean my room” question is to ask them what they think.
“Suzie, why do you think that you need to clean your
room?” That usually solves the problem. Let your kids
figure this one out for themselves. Most of the time kids
know why they need to clean their room and turning the tables
on this question is a good approach to stopping the "whys"
in their tracks.
If your
kids are whining, that is to be expected. One thing you can
do is ask your kids to repeat what they say without whining.
And when they say “I don’t want to clean my room”
without whining say “thank you for not whining but we
still need to get your room clean”.
It’s
okay for your kids to want something in return for cleaning.
A reward system is a great way to get them to clean. Sticker
charts are great but immediate rewards are better. Some really
cheap and easy rewards are playing outside, reading a book
together, or make cookies after you clean.
The
Tom Sawyer Approach: “Can you help me mom?”
A lot of kids want help cleaning their rooms. This is okay
but make sure your kids understand that helping doesn’t
mean doing it for them. A great approach to cleaning when
you have more than one kid is to tag team clean each room.
Most kids need someone supervising, at least when they are
little. Go through each room together and give kids simple
assignments such as put the toys in the toy box, put the books
away, or put your clothes in your dresser. Working together
is quick and easy. You can get several kids room clean really
fast if you work together.
Stall
tactics, Slow pokes, and Sneak-offers
One of the biggest things we moms see is starting off with
a bang and fizzling out in two minutes flat. If your child
needs to make constant trips to the bathroom, likes to dawdle,
or sneaks out of the room the second you walk away, you might
want to try the tag team approach mentioned earlier. Another
way to deal with kids like this is to stay in the room and
give them step by step directions. Yes, this is a lot of work
for mom, but unless you like being your child’s personal
maid, it’s better to stick around the room and supervise.
Eventually they will need less supervision but it probably
won’t be any time soon.
The
Three Blind Mice Approach: “I don’t see any messes”
“It’s already clean mom”. Have you heard
this one before? More than likely, you have. Kids rely on
you to teach them what clean means. They may look at the same
disastrous room you are looking at and honestly not see the
messes. The more they clean their room and know what to expect
the less you will see of the selective blindness. You can
solve this by staying in the room and supervising or writing
them a checklist. Make sure to follow up and see that each
task is done.
Getting
Their Rooms Clean and Keeping Them Clean
The key to keeping kids room clean is consistency and routines.
If your children make their beds every morning and make it
a habit, there will be less fights. Have your children clean
their rooms throughout the day and before they go to bed.
Its easier if it’s cleaned regularly instead of letting
things pile up. Kids get overwhelmed easily so the smaller
the tasks they have to do at one time the better.
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