Elijah was 4 years old and Sophia was 7. Elijah was happy to keep his room tidy. Occasionally he might still need a reminder to put his toys away, but that is all he needed. He would go tidy his room and come back ready to play... Wouldn’t it be nice if that were always the case? One morning, he even woke up too early (I was NOT ready to start the day yet), so I told him he needed to go clean his room before bed. He happily trotted off and came back to report that he was done. I asked if he made his bed.
He turned around briefly before stopping and saying, “I don’t know how to make my bed.”
When I told him to go try, anyway, he just said okay and successfully figured out how to make his own GIANT bed.
His sister, Sophia was VERY different. I would have to tell her, then remind her, then be in her room and either help her or fold laundry while she threw things in her bins... and it would still take at least double the time it took Elijah.
Your kids might be the same, but they might be totally different. Depending on their personality, you may want to give a few of these things a try:
1) Tell them why it’s important to you to have clean space. (A lot of kids really do care more about things if they know the reasons behind why they have to do certain things.)
2) Figure out which parts of the house need to be clean always versus only on occasion. (For example, shared spaces always... or nightly... or whatever your preference is... need to be kept tidy, but bedrooms need to be tidied weekly... or whatever schedule you decide on.)
3) Figure out a system that works for you AND your kids. (Is it easier for your kids to have specific places for each toy and specific drawers for different clothing? Or- are general baskets better where they can just dump everything while keeping it off the floor?)
4) Do your kids know what you mean by clean? (It seems obvious to us, but SOMETIMES kids really think they’ve cleaned up after themselves when they haven’t.)
5) Do your kids like being in the same room as you all the time? (If you have a very social... or even touchy child, they may be more apt to clean if they can clean in the same room you are cleaning.)
