clean 1 room or 6 rooms

What you should do is make THEM clean all six of the rooms for a few months, and supervise them to make sure they do it right. I promise you they will get it if you do this. LOL Kids today have no idea how easy they really have it. Most of them are just spoiled little brats...

Well, I'd rather do none of it, but as things go, as long as everybody in the house takes care of their own basic messes, things stay even. I think that kids, even small kids, can help keep their spaces picked up, for instance playrooms and toys, clothes in a small basket or hamper, towels hung up, trash thrown away, dishes washed, put in dishwasher, or if they are too little yet, at LEAST put into the sink. If they aren't younger than school age, they can definitely do things like their own laundry, help keep up their own or shared bathroom (sweeping, emptying trash, wiping mirrors, refilling toilet paper, changing out towels), put their dishes in the dishwasher OR wash them, vacuuming bedroom, changing bed etc. It is a lot easier for them to do things like this if you started expecting them to do these things in age appropriate ways from the time they are like... one or two. Even a two year old can pick up toys every time they are done playing with them, and they can get into the habit of throwing away trash or helping bring a bowl to the sink. What works to help you reinforce behavior? Does it work better for you to take away privelages if they DON'T clean up, or is it better for you to offer something like an incentive FOR them to clean up?

Well overall it would be easier to only have to clean one room compared to cleaning 6, but it would be a little cramped and awkward for most people to have to live in just one room, especially all together all of the time. Just think how cramped it would be. I know that 6 is a lot of rooms to clean, but actually for me, the more rooms the better.

They get it...they figure if they goof off long enough you'll clean their room, too! All four of mine fought me tooth and nail about cleaning thier bedrooms until somewhere in the pre-teen years when their friends started noticing things like whether or not you live like a pig. Then they cared.