Dear Reader,
I'm frustrated with my boys' lack of cleaning and taking care of things. Books always get wrecked because they leave them on the floor and they get stepped on or Baby gets to them; toys get wrecked, crayons, etc... I have art supplies in the school room so they can be creative in their play time, but when I go up there it's a total mess-- markers dried out without lids, paper cuttings everywhere, etc., and it's the same way all over the house. I am NOT going to clean up for them, but I can't be over their shoulders all day telling them to clean up this before they get out that. Please--- any suggestions???? How do normal mothers keep their things nice with kids and their houses clean without having to follow their kids around 24/7 ?????
Thanks in advance,
Kristie
Update: I still want your advice, but what I'm going to try is this: the boys get $5 allowance each Saturday. On the Sunday before (for the next week's allowance), I'll get their allowance in nickels and put it in a jar. If I see a mess they made or something not put away, I will identify their mess as a number 1-10 (10 being the worst mess), and they get that many nickels taken away, and they still have to clean it up. If they clean something up without me having to tell them, I will give them 1-10 nickels in their jar, depending on how great they cleaned. On Sat., they can have whatever is in their jar. I tried to explain to them today, that they have to clean it up anyway, they might as well GET nickels for it, instead of LOSING them. We'll all have jars, and if I don't clean a mess, the kids can take away my nickels, too. I think I am going to take a month or so and just focus on cleaning habits, mine and the kids.
Oh yea, and they have to pay for anything that gets messed up out of their allowance.
I'll let you know how this works.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Hi Kristy,
I am no expert when it comes to this and have tiredly tried many methods. One method is threaten to throw the things away and if they don't clean then get a garbage bag and put everything in it. Hide it until things improve. Another method we just started and the kids were really excited about it is our 10 minute clean up. We do it after dinner and everyone has a specific job. For instance, last night I did the dishes, Annie collected all the garbages, Cambry cleaned up toys, and Tyler vacuumed. They were really excited about it because we got really excited about it and I think because we were cleaning with them. As I said...every mom goes through this and it's sooooo FRUSTRATING...we've had major wars over this issue. Good luck...I guess kids are kids.
Well, truth is, most of the time I have to stand over their shoulders. I have found that if those fun things are stored up out of reach, then they have to ask and I know they are doing whatever with them. Then I can make sure they clean it up. Habits are formed by repeating the process. So if they get something out, it has to be cleaned up and put back. The worst part is I always have to be involved with it. But how else is it going to succeed? Kids don't get it.....it's just that good clean up habits have to be taught and enforced by Mom. I don't know if that helps you :(
I keep messy stuff out of reach and we have to put it away before moving on to the next thing.
When I ask the girls to clean up their toys, they have the chance to do it. If they don't, I remind them that anything I pick up goes in a bin and then that bin goes in the garage for a certain period of time. That motivates them to put things in the correct place.
I've also given them a proper place to store artwork and things they've made that they want to keep. If it's not there, I tell them that I will throw it away. That would be the worst punishment of all!
Hey! Have you shown them a picture of your dorm room from freshman year?!!!J/k
First of all, I would save your money. Children do not need an allowance. We did something similar to the nickel jar except we used marbles. Make a list of rules and post it somewhere in the house. Whenever they are obedient, they get to put a marble in the jar. Then once they have a certain amount of marbles or when the jar is full (our jar was rather big so we decided on 30 marbles but with 2 kids you could do more) then they can do something special(like go to the zoo or something). Have them choose the special activity to work for. Children will remember the fun things they did with their family a lot more than some toy that's going to be broken in 2 weeks.
Anyway, good luck! When you figure out how to make them perfect, please let me know.
I agree with Lily. You just do have to follow them around and enforce it for a long time. Eventually, it will become a habit to clean up before moving on to another activity and you won't have to remind them as often. My kids just know that's the rule and I have enforced it for 6 years and so by now (most of the time) they clean up without being asked. To start with, I too threw things away that they didn't clean up and that worked really well in motivating them. But I realize the house will never be totally spotless until they are gone from home and then I will probably miss their clutter. Sigh.
Post a Comment