June 26, 2009

Messy Room

HELP ME!
My children are messy and I don't know what to do.
Except throw every single object out of my house, so they can live on the floor with a potty and blanket.
But that would be wrong.
Their room gets cleaned up, and 2 hours later, looks like a tornado hit it.

I step on Hot Wheels, Lego and crayons.

I trip over blankets and stuffed animals.

Clothes are thrown anywhere so I do not know what is dirty and what has been thrown on the floor clean because they changed their mind before putting it on.


Are your children messy? Please tell me I am not the only one living like this.

Do they clean their room regularly?

Do you reward them?

Or do you let them live in their filth?




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12 comments:

ParentingPink said...

Yes - my 6 year old's room looks like a tornado went through it sometimes! But, she's pretty good about cleaning it up when I ask her to :-)

Mommy Vent said...

well I have a 2 year old and a 1 year old... so life is a bit of a mess here sometimes. my 2 year old is pretty good at cleaning up, but my 1 year old is realllllyyyy good at making a mess!

East Coast Wahine said...

Hubby and I are empty-nesters now but when our girls were younger we would insist that they keep their rooms clean.

Cathy said...

My 14 year old son's room ALWAYS looks like a tornado has come through it. I try to make him clean it at least once a week....he does "14 year old clean" which is, throw things in the closet or under the bed.

I'm trying to teach my 3 year old to help clean her room...she does a much better job!

I do not reward them for this...it's their house too, they should want to keep it clean.

I am Harriet said...

When my kids were that age I started throwing away the stuff they left lying around. They got the message.

http://iamharriet.blogspot.com/2009/06/hot-friday.html

PMKU said...

Yes they are messy but I'm a pain the ars about them keeping it clean. It's simple - no tv, no Wii, no computer - nothing till your room is clean. Amazing how fast they move.

Jen said...

we just live in our filth. ;)

Heatherlyn said...

Oh my. Well, we have gotten rid of 90% of the toys.

Seriously. The kids had too much stuff.

We bought my daughters beds that had drawers and foot boards with cubbyholes and headboards with a shelf and space for books. We told them that if they had something that didn't fit in their drawers or cubbyholes or on their shelves it was going to be given away. Of course, they still have a cradle with their baby doll stuff, and a play kitchen set. But having few enough toys to put in their drawers and cubbyholes helped.

And then we had the clothing. The next big problem! Just this afternoon I told them to pick out 10 outfits for the summer. They fit in one drawer per child. They can put the clothing away themselves.

Same with the boys.

And so I've been thinking ... maybe the problem wasn't just that my kids were slobs (although they sort of ARE). But that it was overwhelming for them to have so much to manage.

My kids can keep things clean if they have very little to keep clean.

But maybe that's just my kids.

Good luck! I think every parent deals with this!

MOMMY-MOMO said...

good question! My guy is still to young. he's 2. havent dealt with this yet

Diane said...

as long as there's no food or gross laundry i pretty much let them do what they want in their rooms. however! if i walk in there for some reason and i practically kill myself, i call them in to do a pick up.

the reward for doing chores at my house is you get to live here for free, meals and laundry included. it's not a bad gig.

kailani said...

My kids are messy and not great at cleaning up. When I try to clean one room, they're already destroying another one. *sigh*

Erica said...

My 6 yr. old is the only consider with any type of cleanliness (she is a little obsessed with organization) the other three though i am constantly on about cleaning up their mess on a daily basis. A little frustrating okay a lot but I refuse to constantly go behind them cleaning up their messes.