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Teaching a child to keep their room clean can be a challenge, but this is working great, so I had to share it with you! I love to have a clean house and I love to know where everything is, so I want my kid’s rooms to be organized, too. Otherwise, they are complaining of being “bored,” but it’s really because they are overwhelmed. An organized room solves that.
Do you ever feel like your kid’s bedroom is always a mess? I admit that my biggest “time-drainer” is picking up our kid’s clothes. As my Mom has put it, they just “walk out of them”. Its so true!
Our kids have this terrible habit of taking their clothes off & just leaving them wherever they were standing. I had to come up with something to teach our kids to pick up their clothes and here is what is working for us. (Leave a comment of what works for you!)
Why are their clothes always on the floor, you ask?
They dress up like superheros… a lot!
They dress up in their swimsuits & pretend to go surfing (or they just wear their swimsuits because they like to wear them!)…
They dress up in their Dad’s old football jerseys…
They dress up in each others clothes & play “family”…
They dress up in their pajamas and play “camping out”…
Yes, our kids are constantly changing & changing again. (Please tell me I’m not the only mom dealing with this!)
I had to make a new rule because they were “forgetting” where they left their clothes and getting out new ones. I was washing up to four outfits a day sometimes (per child!) To help with keeping kids bedroom clean, we have implemented a new rule & consequence because I DID NOT want to nag them about it constantly…
Here is the rule:
For each article of clothing that I have to pick up off of the ground, they go to bed five minutes earlier.
Trust me, this is enough incentive for the kids to pick up their clothing. They really don’t like going to bed before 7:00 (their bedtime). (see my post on teaching your kids to sleep in later here)
Here is how I taught them to clean their rooms:
Sunday- told them about the new rule and explained it IN DETAIL! “Every article of clothing that you leave on the floor gets you five minutes of earlier bedtime. A sock? 5 minutes. Two socks? Ten minutes.” I went through a lot of examples and they gave me some, too.
I told them that if they were just changing into a costume/dress-up outfit, they could just put their clothes on their bed or dresser for later. They needed to do this because when they leave them in a ball on the floor, they end up getting out a new one ten minutes later. I told them that they would get a day to practice it before it started. So they had all day Sunday to work on this before the consequence would start on Monday.
Monday- they both got ten minutes for leaving clothes out & I stuck to it, even though they both kept asking for “Just one more chance.”
TIP:
(Even if you don’t have a set bedtime, you can just say “Its time for bed. You were going to get to stay up for ten more minutes, but you have to go to sleep ten minutes early tonight for leaving your pajamas (or whatever) on the floor today.” Our kids know that 7:00 is bedtime (well, the 7 hour, but the minutes vary), so when they saw the clock still saying 6, they were upset. (even if it said 6:59, that is early to them!) Reminder: our kids get up at 7:00, so an early bedtime is important. See my post here on: My kids get up too early- How to keep your kids in bed later).
Tuesday- no clothes on the floor
Wednesday- Pajamas WERE on the floor when I walked by the room to see how they were doing getting ready for school and by the time that they were dressed & ready for school… guess what? Pajamas were put away. Woo-hoo!!
This consequence will not last forever– probably about one month, but it is in place right now as a teaching-rule. (As with many of our rules & consequences. We make them to teach our children and after they have made it a habit, we can get rid of the consequence & just remind them, when needed.)
Update: This is an easy system, too.
If you want to start chores with your kids, but not have to deal with a chore chart, try these. We have them & they are easy and they are “normal” chores, like sweep the floors, dust, clean up the living room, etc… It makes it easy to say “Ok everyone – go grab 2 chore sticks and then you are done and you can go play.”
You can find them on Amazon. Here’s the affiliate link: https://amzn.to/2qcNEei
Or I encourage you to join our declutter course.
I bet you will find this post helpful, as well:
And the reason that our kids go to bed at 7:00:
I have two Boys aged 8 and 12, of course they don’t care much about the tidiness of their rooms. To be honest, what bothered me most were the endless discussions between the Boys and my wife whether their room is tidy enough or not. This is why I had the idea to develop a MessoMeter that just measures the tidiness in the children’s rooms, and presents it in a playful way. It’s really fun and helps a lot!
Great post..Awesome activities ideas for kids.keep it up
Thanks for sharing the post very helpful. 🙂
Cleaning their bed after sleeping could be a good trait to develop for a kid. If they could be responsible for small things, they can be responsible for bigger things as well.
Excellent. Absolutely loved reading and very helpful at the same time 🙂
Funny I found this super-old post now. This is exactly what I’ve been going through for ages, and I finally had it. I chose a solution that’s helping me more than helping them learn responsibility, but right now they’re 5 and 3 and it’s more important that I don’t spend so much time picking up, doing laundry and folding clothes. I took the clothes away. I’m storing them in laundry baskets in the basement. If they want a new outfit in the morning, they hand over dirty PJs or show me the PJs under their pillow. If they want PJs at night, they hand over the day’s outfit to be refolded or put in the laundry. It’s only been a few days–and it is a hassle when they need something in the middle of the day like a sweater to go outside–but the way their floor looks, so far it’s worth it! I’m hoping that breaking them of the habit of shedding old clothes wherever will help them be responsible when I eventually bring back their clothes for more personal control.
Your ideas are simple amazing. I would like to teach my child and finally I got details by your article. Thanks for sharing it with us.
This is a fantastic rule! I wish I had it when my kids were younger. Definitely going to pass it on to my sister for my niece and nephew. If it’s one thing they hate it’s going to bed so this one will be a great incentive!
Lol- mine, too. I know that some disagree, but it just makes it easy: if your room is clean, you go to bed early. (I have explained it as: I have to clean it during the day, so you have taken time away from me… now I am taking free-time away from them in return.) . I am never mean or unkind about it and they understand. 🙂
This is an awesome idea! Eventually I want to get my kids to do their own laundry, at the moment its a battle to get them to not throw their uniform all over the floor… baby steps!
Hello Becky,
This is an awesome idea! my kids are 7 and 9. I tell them to do this these things in the morning. Every morning. But it happens sometimes and most times not . I Hope this will work! Does this apply to their beds not being made in the morning?
Thank you
Jennifer
To be honest, I don’t know what I’d do about beds – our kids have to have them made before they come downstairs & they have been doing this since they were old enough to make their beds, so it’s never been an issue. I think if they didn’t make them, I’d probably have it apply, as well.
These are all really great ideas. I remember when mine were young they would strew the books all over the floor…
It’s definitely a struggle all parents face 🙂
I love the ideal of going to bed earlier if clothes are left on the floor and the chore sticks! I have custody of my three grandchildren and I’m looking for techniques..I just found several of them…..Thanks😊
So glad you liked the ideas! Good luck!
These are really effective ideas for small kids and it’s better to develop good habits in children in their childhood.
Once we get into a groove and train our kids in the habit of tidiness, we will all feel better! It is totally worth the time it takes each day to help our young ones take ownership to manage their own space. The more you do it, the less time it takes. Tidiness brings more peace to our home, sets our kids up for future success, connects our kids deeper to us, and helps them feel better about themselves.
-Michael
Thanks for Sharing this Post. 🙂