I don’t know if your kids are like mine, but when I ask them to clean their rooms, they are continually coming up to me and saying, “Okay, it’s done.” I go and check and it’s far from being clean.
We do this several times until it is ACTUALLY clean. I don’t feel like this is teaching my kids responsibility. It seems like it’s just teaching them to try to get away with as much as they can. So, in search for help on this subject, I came across this fantastic idea (thank you Lara) and adapted it to fit our family’s needs.
The question she poses is, Is your room “mommy” clean? I have to admit, I’m totally in love with this idea and have been using it and it has turned out great. No longer do I have to go back and forth checking their rooms. It is teaching responsibility (and promoting reading), all at the same time! 🙂
Some ideas to get your child’s room clean to your standards are:
1. Clear all toys off your bed
2. Make your bed
3. Put away toys
4. Wash walls if necessary
5. Pick up the floor (throw away garbage and put away all toys where they belong)
6. Put away clean clothes in drawer or hang up in the closet
7. If clothes are dirty, put them in the hamper. If hamper is full, fill the washer with clothes and tell me
8. Clean off dresser (put everything away where it belongs)
9. Pick up closet floor and shelves so they are free of garbage and toys
10. Go through toy drawers, picking out extra garbage and broken toys and throwing them away
11. Clean underneath bed
12. Mine are too young to vacuum by themselves, but you could add that as well if your kids are old enough or just use a stick vacuum (here’s the one we use).
Print out the sheet and tape it on the mirror or closet. You can laminate it if you’d like and use a dry ease pen so they can feel accomplished and check mark off the tasks as they go. Whatever works best for your family.
Click the links below to see the books on Amazon:
I Love to Keep My Room Clean
The Berenstain Bears and the Messy Room
Good Habits for God’s Kids – My Clean Room
How do Dinosaurs Clean Their Rooms?
When You Don’t Clean Your Room
Kelly says
‘Mommy clean’ is a great idea! With 9 children from 20yo all the way down to 7mo, I can tell you each age has their own standard of clean – lol – they are also at different responsibility levels. Maybe, if you have kids at different ages, you could assign an older to help train a younger. The older could earn rewards for a job well done by helping their siblings, i.e. extra $, or points, or time on the computer/video games, however you reward your kids. Another thought, If you don’t want to laminate a list (I usually end up amending mine from time to time) you can place it in a page protector. They can still check off the list using either a wet or dry erase marker.
One great quote I always remember is, “You must inspect what you expect.” That means more work for Mom upfront, in the training stages, checking on every little thing you have assigned, but in the end, you will have taught your children to be responsible workers who need very little oversight. Happy child training!
Sarah says
Wow Kelly, those are all fantastic ideas! I hadn’t even thought of the sheet protector. Brilliant! With the older helping train the younger. How do you maintain that they just don’t go in there and play? Mine do. Do you set a time limit or use another trick that helps?
Kelly says
Thanks Sarah. To keep them from playing and actually working, I usually offer a reward such as extra video game time, or something that will motivate that child. I also pair the kids with a wide age range for a more thorough job. A 5yo is not as much help training a 3yo as a 9yo is. (I have different expectations for the different skill/age levels) Sometimes I want the younger (-5) working together to help teach lessons (character training – which doesn’t usually get the room clean fastest, but is MORE beneficial in the long run): learning to get along, learning that being kind gets siblings to cooperate more than being bossy, patience, or just keeping them busy so I can focus on other things 😉 I find that having happy kids that love and enjoy each other brings way more peace than having everything put away where it belongs.
That said, if I want the room clean NOW, I assign it to the older ones who already know how to do it. It doesn’t take very many times before everyone learns what is expected of them. It’s true that lots of hands can help clean up faster, but it also means more hands to make more messes faster… which is why I really appreciated your post about 2 tips to organize your home!!
Thanks again for all of your wonderful posts and ideas!
Sarah says
Yeah, I hear you! One thing I’m working on right now is trying to get the kids to work together. So, things like having them clean one of the rooms together to get a Popsicle in the summer is perfect. 🙂 Haha! Yes, I could see how that would make more messes. Thank you; glad you are enjoying the site! Let me know if there’s ever anything you’d love to read about. 🙂
Lara says
I’m really happy that this idea has worked for you! I’ve been amazed at the response it’s gotten on my blog, because it was something I had come up with out of pure desperation!
Sarah says
Haha Lara. Desperation is what led me to your post as well!!! LOL Thank you for sharing it with us! It’s working great!
Jane says
YUP!!! I’m just getting ready to houseclean!
Great post!
Kim says
I’m not so “mommy sweet” about it, but yes, you get tired of constantly checking just to say “nope try again” so I got the same idea. I ask them if they put everything away where I put it. You’re absolutely right…saves time and stress. *Its a fine line, especially with little ones, between enabling and acknowledging when they are just too overwhelmed. You can’t expect a kid to clean if you don’t teach them how. First steps always…throw away garbage and put clothes in laundry room.. 9 times out of 10 it’s 70% done after that
Sarah says
Very true Kim. I realized somewhere along the lines too, that my kids had like 40 outfits each. Clean clothes were always spewed all over their rooms. They’d make tents, tie them in knots and so forth. I reduced the amount of clothes to about 15 outfits each, telling myself that if they needed more, I would keep them in a storage tote in the garage that is easily accessible in a pinch. So far, I’ve just gotten into it once and it’s been a couple months now! 🙂 They are learning to wash their clothes more often and they play with clean clothes a lot less. Clothes and paperwork, ack. Too much of it around here! lol.
Jacquie says
Lol!! That sign caught my eye on Pinterest and I had to stop by 🙂 So true and we need to add “toss folded clothes in the hamper if you aren’t sure where they go” — can’t tell you how many clean, folded socks & t-shirts I’ve pulled out the hamper over the years.
We also love the book “How to Clean Your Room in 10 Easy Steps” — hilarious read (for parents too). Thanks for the laugh today 🙂
Sarah Titus says
Oh, that’s a good one! I didn’t think of that. LOL.