Let’s be honest- a kid’s room is not usually the cleanest room in the house. Especially if you spend a lot of time at home, then you know how messy your child’s room can get on any given day. There are toys, crayons, half-finished art projects, and clothes seemingly everywhere you look.
How to Get Your Kids to Clean Their Room
As a parent, you know that there are so many other things that need to be done around the house, and the kids' rooms usually do not rank very high on the list of to-dos, especially when you’re already paying bills, folding laundry, washing dishes, and driving everyone where they need to go.
There are several benefits to teaching your kids how to clean their room. It not only teaches them the responsibility of keeping their space clean, but it also takes one more thing off of their chores list for the week. It’s a win-win situation! Here’s how to get your kids to clean their room.
1. Schedule out time for cleaning.
Take time to schedule time for your kids to pick up their room once per day. If they use the space for playing with toys or working on crafts, it can get messy quickly. By scheduling time dedicated to cleaning up their messes, they’ll learn to factor this time into their schedules as they grow older.
Important tasks are routinely scheduled. This is something that your child will start to recognize and begin to make a note of each day. Taking time to clean their room is on a schedule, just like taking time to brush their teeth or taking time for a bath.
2. Offer a reward system.
Teachers have reward systems in their classrooms. Why? A reward system works well when establishing behaviors in children. Rewarding good behaviors is a way to increase the frequency of good behavior.
In this unique case, rather than good rewarding behavior in a classroom setting, you would be rewarding a job well done for cleaning their room. Rewards can be as small as a chance to pick up a surprise item at the dollar store the next time you go, or it could be a run to the ice cream shop down the street.
Whatever reward you decide to give, make sure it is something that your child would enjoy. This way, they will want to clean their room voluntarily and will enjoy the reward.
3. Prioritize the outcome.
Make sure your children know that you are not forcing them to clean their room to be mean to them. This is not something that you are doing to them as a punishment. Rather, explain to them that the outcome of a clean room far outweighs the aggravation of cleaning.
Here are some perks that you can share with your children about having a clean room:
- You can find your toys much easier when your room is clean
- You do not trip over things in the middle of the night when your room is clean
- It’s a sanitary practice to have a clean room
- Reducing physical clutter in your room reduces mental clutter and frustration
- You can get ready for school faster in the morning when you know where everything is located
- Keeping your room clean on a daily basis means that you have more time for fun things. (Seeing friends, playing outside, sports practice, etc.)
4. Show them how you keep your room clean.
Lead by example and show your kids how you personally keep your room clean. It will be hard for them to understand how they are supposed to keep their room clean if yours is not clean. Do you have a specific routine for how you keep your room clean? Show that to your kids and use it as a teachable moment for them to learn how to clean.
Smaller children may not understand how exactly to clean their rooms, but they could learn from watching you and then attempting the same in their own room. An older child may be struggling to find a routine that works for them, and again, if you have a good system for keeping your own room clean, they could learn from it!
5. Ask a professional.
Maybe you need one good deep cleaning to get your house back in order (specifically in the kids' rooms), or maybe you’ve found that your lives are so busy that cleaning the house is getting the short end of the stick each week, and you need weekly help. Regardless of the reason or situation, Greenlife Professional Cleaning can help.
Our staff is trained to clean each individual room of your home with care. We take pride in our work, and we work hard to make sure that our clients are satisfied. Our cleaning routines are efficient and effective.
If you need help cleaning your home, contact us for more information.