Cleaning the children’s bedroom seems like an impossible task for parents with young kids around. Kids who are still learning to pack away or clean up their stuff have a talent for making a room in a perpetual state of mess. The number of children in the house doesn’t seem to make much of a difference when it comes to managing the mess. Parents who only have a single child also face the same challenge in keeping the child’s room tidy. Luckily there are tools or strategies that one can use for maintaining a clean and organized children’s bedroom. Here are some tips that are worth a try.
1. Box-out the Mess with Boxes
Teaching kids to be well organized can start by getting them boxes for their toys and craft supplies. Assign a box for their toys and another one for their craft supplies, and let them segregate the mess when they “help” you pack away. This can also make it easy for them to find their toys and minimize the risk of losing a favorite toy in some hidden nook in the room. One could also consider having several boxes for a more efficient toy segregation or storage. For example, one can have separate boxes for puzzles and blocks; cars, dolls and action figures; and role play toys like kitchen sets, tools, doctor’s kit etc.
2. Don’t Under estimate the value of Under-Storage
These portable drawers can help you save time in finding and storing items, and make an efficient use of the bedroom space as well. They are usually placed under the bed, at the bottom of the closet or in any underutilized space in the bedroom. Under-storage compartments are often used to hold clothes, beddings, books, and excess toys.
3. Use plenty of carrots
Given a choice between the carrot or positive reinforcement, and the stick, or a reprimanding approach, the carrot takes the edge in motivating the kids to clean-up their room. It may come as a surprise for some, but there are actually a lot of kids today who seek praise from their parents. Encouraging them to clean-up on their own and recognizing their efforts whenever they help you tidy up the room can sometimes be enough to make them to do it on a regular basis.
Start using the stick when the kids are old enough to understand the concept of rewards and consequences. Parents can use it to persuade kids to always keep their rooms clean or at least keep it clean most of the time. Goodies, extra play time, or anything that interests them, may be given as a reward for proper clean-up while punishments like no TV time or no new toys for the month can be given when they stubbornly refuse to clean their rooms.
One can make use of all three tips and make adjustments along the way. Getting the kids to help out in clean-up activities can be more challenging than doing the all work yourself, but once you succeed, the rewards are definitely more fulfilling. Aside from getting some load off on your daily chores, you also get to teach your kids the value of independence and keeping a clean and well-organized room.
My father would get so mean and nasty if my bedroom was a mess. While it did get unorganized and messy the one thing I knew was it didn’t stay that way for long because if dad came home the crap would hit the fan.
When I had four foster kids I became a bedroom tyrant, then one day in a fit of anger I vented to my friend about the state of the kids rooms. She came over and we all cleaned up, then she said to me, “when all else fails Maddie remember, no parent ever died from a child’s messy bedroom. Just shut the door.” So that is what I would do. I shut their bedroom doors to the mess, clutter and disaster and whenever I needed an appropriate punishment it was always handing said child the sweeper, a garbage bag, a towel and dustrag to clean their room.
Good tips! It is a neverending task to keep organized
I usually keep and tidy my stuffs inside a box and I put labels on it so I won’t have a hard time looking for them I need my things.
I use both the carrot and stick approach. Keeping their rooms clean makes me proud of them and knowing they won’t have to listen to my nagging about having a mess of a room.
Oh my gosh… it looks like you came in and took a pic of my kids’ rooms. I could really use these tips for getting my kids’ rooms back in order. Im marking this for reference. I like these ideas. Thank you.