Parenting Big Kids (5-8) Support Group

What we do is NO Tv and playing until it is clean, however my idea of clean and my childrens are two different things, so I really have to be careful, as long as there is nothing under the beds or stuffed in the closets and the dirty clothes are in the hamper I accept that. I go in there once weekand dust and vacume. she may be overwhelmed also, my daughter get's that way, I try to explain to her that if she would clean up a mess before she makes another one it would not be so bad, but she can have aroom that looks lkke tornadoe alley, so I have gone in there and went through things and put some stuff away and thrown things away,. and tried to declutter as much as she can live without, makes it a bit easier for her to handle with the cleaning, your daughter is also young and she will outgrow this stage, right now it is not important to her, even though it is to us, try to hang in there, and just encourage her, if there are no foul smells coming from her room, then just hang in there. it will be okay.

My daughter is the same way. I have to go and help her clean it up. My husband and I try incentives and a majority of the time it works. They do get overwhelmed. I was on my daughter to clean her room, but she goes up there and plays around even more. When I help, she is really into helping. Try a reward of some sort. GOOD LUCK :-)

If my kids don't want to clean their room, we make a trade. i will clean their room if they vacum the living room etc. It works really good for us! i usually have to re-do what they have done, but i wait till they go to bed so they don't know. Hope this helps!!

Some kids can't figure out how to do it. Their minds don't work that way. I have one like that. I have to basically teach him how to. I say, pick up all the clothes and put the dirty ones in the hamper and the others, you fold up and put away. Then when he is done I look at it and point out anything he missed. Then I say, make up your bed. Then put the toys away. After many times being supervised like this, he can do a decent job on his own. Try not to make it a power struggle, just guide her step by step and don't give up.

I got my son a magnetic board and wrote down the chores I expected him to do each day, such as making the bed, hanging the bath towels on the towel rack, putting his toys away, etc. Each time he completes a chore I put a sticker next to the chore and once he accumulates a certain amount of stickers I give him a surprise treat such as a small inexpensive toy from the 99 cent store, an ice cream cone from McDonald's, etc. It keeps his room semi-decent and my little one enjoys his surprise treats.

A chore chart could help. I have one for my six year old and it has worked for me. You need to let her clearly know what is expected of her and what the consequences will be if she does not obey. When my daughter’s room gets really bad I do help her start cleaning it but, I leave her to finish the rest. It is amazing how fast and good they clean when they know the consequences and they KNOW you will follow through with them. My daughter has told me before that she doesn’t know how to clean but, when I said that maybe she had too many toys and we should get rid of some so it wouldn’t be so hard…she knew EXACTLY what to do. Remember to reward her when she does what you ask also. It doesn’t always have to be money or something that costs money either. For instance: if she did most of her chores with out complaining then maybe you can help her finish the rest. Reward her for not only completing her chores but for a good attitude. Good luck!

what i have found to be a GREAT way to get them to clean up their room is start throwing away toys. if i find it on the floor its garbage. seems to work really good. with the toys that are nice and i dont want to throw away i hide and say i threw away. when the toys start missing the kids get to cleaning.

I've done that too. I have never had to throw any toys away yet but, I have told my daughter I would.

Thank you so much for your replies. I will be trying this stuff out. She has a birthday party she wants to go to on Sunday, I suppose we will see how bad she wants to go. I don't mind helping - I just don't think I should do all of it. I have a whole house to clean.