If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
We have a problem. A big problem. It’s my daughter’s room. She’s almost 10, and has many great qualities, but organization is not one of them. Neither is motivation.
This is a good day.
I used to have her clean her room once a week. The problem is that one day later, you can’t even walk into the room. Any suggestions?Organization is obviously not my strong point. I’m working on it, but help me to help my daughter before she becomes a disorganized homemaker like myself!
For more Works-For-Me Wednesday: Backwards Style visit Rocks in My Dryer!
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Tina in Thailand says:
As a girl, I had a notoriously messy room. In fact the family still brings it up in conversation. It was BAD! When Mom would send me into the mess to clean it up, invariable I would look at the mess and be overwhelmed, I did not know what to do with all that stuff.
Enter my own children. I now love a clean and organized house. I have found that especially for the kids, they can clean a room and keep it clean if they know where to put things. Telling a kid to go clean a room is a lesson in frustration most of time. But if they have set boxes, totes, bags, places for specific things, then it is only a matter of putting away, not organizing.
We had/have boxes labeled, horses, cars, plastic animals, ect. A bin for sports stuff. When it is time to clean, they already know which items go where, so it is relatively simple to put the items in their pre-arranged places.
With your daughter, she is definitely old enough to sort her things into categories, and choose the containers/homes for them.
Hope you find a good solution and help your daughter gain a great skill for the rest of her life!
November 6th, 2007 at 10:15 pm
Clemntine says:
All of my kids (16, 11, 8 & 2) LOVE the House Fairy (http://www.housefairy.org/). YES, I pay the annual membership, and YES, it’s still working after several years. Now my older kids have very tidy habits, and they “House Fairy” the toddler’s room. The small increments of work and specific instructions make it very doable. The House Fairy is sweet, hoky, fun and encouraging.
November 7th, 2007 at 1:48 am
Laurie says:
I found that my daughter could only manage if I had her clean her room EVERYDAY otherwise it was overwhelming to her. Then there is my blog where I talk about my current system; http://stone-belle.blogspot.co.....bling.html
November 7th, 2007 at 4:58 am
Karen in Iowa says:
I agree with Tina. I was the same way, too. Now my kids have bins and boxes for everything! It’s also important to remove things from their rooms that they no longer use or enjoy. Also, get your daughter involved - ask questions “what do you think would work here?” or “would this work if we did this?” And then go shopping together for bins or boxes. We use a lot of inexpensive containers (my favorite are photo boxes for collections). Once there’s a place for everything, it will only take a few minutes before bed to put everything away. Good luck!
November 7th, 2007 at 5:05 am
Angela says:
Our kids have specific areas where things go so it makes it easier for clean up. However, I do make my kids clean their room every night before going to bed. This way they can wake up in a clean room and continue on with their chores for the day:)
Angela
November 7th, 2007 at 5:56 am
Mrs. C says:
Is that your daughter’s room, or my daughter’s room?
My daughter has too much “stuff”. She’s a pack rat and never wants to get rid of anything.
Here’s my suggestion: schedule an uninterrupted hour or two to help her de-clutter. She’s old enough to make some decisions about what stays and what goes. Group like things together and see if there is a need for some storage containers or shelves in the room. She will probably feel so good after her room has been thoroughly cleaned that with the help of some new routines in place (with her input) the job will seem doable.
Blessings,
Mrs. C
November 7th, 2007 at 6:19 am
Justpassingby says:
Agree with the above about having bins and boxes labelled for putting away specific things in specific boxes. that helps a great great deal!
But my kids have an additional step (mine are 7, 6 and 3).. we have a “lost toy box” in our home, in their room, right at the top of their bookshelf. The lost toy box is an orphanage for lost toys whose “mommies” and “daddies” have forgotten to bring “home” (read box/bin). So when I go on my rounds in the morning, all the toys that are “lost” have to go to the orphanage and stay there till the 1st of the next month, when they are reunited with their “mommy” or “daddy”. This is done without exception. All it took was for a beloved toy to be “orphaned” in this manner once, and they stopped leaving their toys around. I make sure they are reminded well in advance, so they have time to return their toys to the right places… and they do this every single day, about a half hour before the bedtime routine begins.
hope this helps.
November 7th, 2007 at 7:07 am
Lorrai says:
make it routine to clean it everyday, not once a week.
First, spend a weekend decluttering, and reorganizing. Get rid of the garbage and the stuff (including clothes) she doesn’t love. then put in shelves with baskets and all that. Make a “home” for everything, and arrange it so it flows nicely for her.
Second, start a routine. Make the bed when you wake up in the morning (doesn’t have to be hospital corners, as long as the blanket is up and the pillow is in place, it’s good!) and then a five minute clean up every night. use a timer. (notice the FLYlady.net principles here) once she realizes that it won’t take *that* long to clean it up…
Third, praise the clean. don’t nag the dirty, but praise to the high heavens when it’s clean - “Look! doesn’t it feel soo good in here now?? I’m so proud of you!”
but!!! the most important step!!! Clean your own room first. I can not tell you how upset I was as a child that I had to clean my room, but mom’s room was in a constant state of messy. Why should I clean mine if you won’t clean yours. Now maybe your room is a haven already, and if so, bravo! but if not… take those steps above… and apply them to your own room. She won’t want to clean hers if she see you not cleaning yours.
Good luck!
November 7th, 2007 at 7:09 am
Milehimama says:
*Theoretically*, we have a nightly room pick up.
I have Clean Your Room with the letters TCTV
Toys
Clothes
Trash
Vacuum. (We don’t vacuum everyday)
Also, if you constantly see the same thing on the floor, that’s a clue that the current system isn’t working and you need to come up with a new one. Example: my 3 yo’s panties are always on the floor. Always! Turns out she couldn’t see into the drawer to pick which one she wanted. So I put her undie drawer on the bottom instead of the top. You get the idea.
We also don’t pay out allowance unless the room is clean. They still earn it, but in order for the Mom ATM to pay out they have to clean up.
November 7th, 2007 at 7:35 am
Thia says:
One way is that my parents eventually gave up. When my room was so messy I didn’t have clean clothes to wear, I had to take responsibility for that. When I broke a toy, my fault. I learned to keep a clean room. My parents would just shut the door when people were over…and often, at other times too.
Another way would be to clean through out the day. So, at the top of every hour, every other hour, she has to go in and put ten things away. This of course, would be after you spent some time decluttering together.
November 7th, 2007 at 8:12 am
Veteran Military Wife at Life Lessons of a Military Wife says:
Before my kids go to bed, they straighten up their room…if not, they wake up in the morning with key toys, gameboys, favorite pairs of pants or shirt…missing. Yes, I have actually taken things to Goodwill. It only takes one or two times to let your kids know you are serious and that if things aren’t put away. they will be donated to a child who does care about the item. Also having too many things strewn around is a sign YOUR CHILD HAS TOO MUCH STUFF. Get away from the consumerism…buy less, or if you’ve already bought, rotate the stuff. As long as you have ample storage space for your child, there is no excuse for a mess. For younger ones, don’t say “clean up your room”…break it up into sections and have them clean each subsequent area..it’s easier on the mind and psyche!
November 7th, 2007 at 9:27 am
Christine says:
My almost 9 year old is a slob, too. I am working on a chore chart (for all 3 kids). I am trying to get her to make her bed first thing in the morning. Once the bed is made the room looks so much better. After school, I am going to have her pick up the floor. And, we need to work on it, together and clear out all the things that she doesn’t need in there.
I hope that this helps!
Oh, and i am going to put in extra shelving in her closet with baskets or something to help her put away her little things she likes to have in her room. Even to put her board games in her room.
November 7th, 2007 at 10:03 am
Michelle at Scribbit says:
I have a bag I use to gather up anything on the floor, then they don’t get to take anything out of the bag until they’ve kept things clean for three full days. I’m an ogre apparently.
November 7th, 2007 at 10:10 am
Heather@mommymonk says:
I’m not the queen of clean either, but here’s what we’re doing. I give the kids 15 minutes to tidy up every night (usually after dinner before snack). I set the timer and we have a competition to see who finishes first - I usually work on the kitchen while they’re in their rooms. Then, when the timer goes off, things on the floor go into a trash bag which stays in the closet for a week. No socks for the week, hmmm too bad. Lost your favorite toy…Wonder where it might be? It has helped!
November 7th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
Heather says:
I agree with much of what’s already been said. What I’d add is to work side by side with your daughter until she gets the idea of how to clean a room and then periodically after that.
Some extra tips that have helped us:
*purge often–condense and get rid of unused clothes, toys, etc.
*make sure every item has a “home”
*straighten every day, deep clean once a week (dust, clean under bed, vacuum, etc) Our deep clean day is Wednesday and that’s the day I assist.
*declare a “7 minute clean up” a couple times a day or at least before bed. We turn on fun music and everyone cleans diligently until the timer goes off.
Hope this helps.
November 8th, 2007 at 1:28 pm