How do you get your kids to clean up?

I found that yelling has no affect. The louder you speak, the less the children can hear. Do not threaten to punish your children, either do it or don't mention it. I leaned those lessons, and things seem to work out better for me and my children. I would ask my kids to clean up, if they did not do it, I simply did it myself. The trick is, put the toys you pick up in a box and put that box out of reach. Most of the time, it is their favorite toys. They would have to "buy" back the toys with good deeds. Another thing I learned, children at that age have a short attention span. They are very easily distracted. When they start to clean, they find a toy they haven't seen in a few days and they feel compelled to play with it for a while, then that leads to something else, and so on. Watch them, you will be suprised at the imagination that a child has. Have you ever noticed, if you ask a small child to pick up toys, chances are, when you come back to check, the mess has gotten bigger. I think it is funny actually. I tried not to punish my children for being children. I still made them listen to my demands, I just learned I needed to demand less. As they got older, I asked for more. Make a game of work, just to keep it interesting to them. Also, make it rewarding. Everyone likes to be rewarded for work that they have done. A friend of mine had two sons. She could not get them to pick up their rooms, even after trying my suggestions. Another friend suggested she take dimes and hide them in the room to be cleaned. Almost like an easter egg hunt. It was amazing to see how fast those boys cleaned the room. I wish you luck with your girls. My suggestions may not work for you, so keep trying other things. All children are different, so you never know what might work. Just remember, it seems, as soon as you find something that works really well, it gets old for the child and you have to come up with something new.

My kids work on a reward system. They have a chart on the fridge that lists their chores. Successful completion of a chore each day earns them a chip (I use poker chips). If they have an attitude about doing a chore, they don't get the chip, but they still have to do the chore. At the end of the week, they can cash the chips in for money. Each chip is worth a quarter in our home. Some jobs are worth more than one chip, depending on how difficult/messy they are. I know that many parents use this system and the chips are worth computer and tv time. Since my kids are 12 and 15, I find that money is the best motivator.

I give mine chores to do and pay them every Saturday if a good job has been done all week. They seem to like doing this on the count of they get to go to the store to spend their own money they have earned once a month.

At that age they can recognize, or at least start to learn that certain behaviors bring specific consequences. In simple words for them, "no clean-up/no pick-up of toys" mean, "no priveledges -- i.e., no tv, no playtime, no rewards, etc, until their chores at home are done. I would make a little chart with pictures of what their daily chores are and then they can check them off or you can put little stickers each day on the chart for what they have accomplished. Stickers mean they can do fun things, or they can work for a special reward for a month of good helping.

Also with a niece that sister was having a difficult time with I told her that she needed to clean up her room. I would be back in a week. If the room was still a diaster then I would come over and put everything in a large trash bag that was still out and all over the place. She didn't believe me. I took out 5 large trash bags a week later. She now has a reward chart and keeps up with everything. Although she had to earn her stuff back little by little. Telling doesn't always work, show them you mean it.

Reward them. Seriously. Read or watch The Supernanny. Give them a chart of what they need to do in your house and a little with school. Once they have reached a goal that you have set then there is an award at the end. My kids love this. They are always finding way to earn check marks. You have to work on it everyday, we keep our on the fridge. Plus when anyone comes over they are excited to show it off.

I had the same problem but with boys. I tried everything, but nothing seemed to work. So, I just started picking everything up myself and would put the toys away in the storage out back. If they wanted to keep their stuff from me they would make sure it was put away. I only gave allowances for other chores like garbage or dishes, but never for their own room or messes made in their room. However, when it came time for them to go somewhere special it would depend on how many times I had to clean after them. A lot of the times they missed out on fun stuff because they chose to be lazy. After a few times of keeping their toys and not letting them go places it was a miracle, every Sat. they cleaned their rooms spotless and the whole family was happy!

We work on a rewards system here too. It is a real motivator for my 6 year old. If he can put money in his jar, he will help pick up a lot. We definatly don't make him a slave, we just have little things. Like picking up his toys out of the living room. He has to help me clean his room (he gets overwhelmed if he has to do it himself), we are teaching him to feed and water the dog. He does all of this with the help of me or my husband. There isn't a lot that he does by himself because he gets overwhelmed and just gives up.

If your children know that if they dont do something all you are going to do is shout and threaten, then they wont do anything You have to follow through with your threats otherwise your children will quickly see them as empty and not be worried Also children shouldnt be rewarded for doing what they were supposed to only if they do it without being asked or if they do extra

According to me just dont do their any kind of work wether its important or casual. Just order them to their own workds by their own because thats the only reason which will make them responsible when they will suffer loss in some cases they will understand by themselves.

If they don't clean then they lose priviledges, whether it's TV, video games, computer, etc. And that will work for any age. Just this past weekend, the teens in my house wanted me to take them to Wal-Mart and I said I wouldn't until their bathroom was clean, and I mean good. They did it with no arguments. I also know parents who have given kids a deadline to clean-up by and whatever was left after that time they bagged up. Some just bagged it and kept it aside for another time. Others threw stuff out on the front lawn, sometimes not even in bags! When the kids had to bring their things back in like that it made an impression. I haven't had to go that far, just taking away the electronic devices seem to be enough.

Do not yell at kids. They get afraid and just stand there and not do anything instead. It's a good idea to ask them to do things once in a while if not all the time. I have a 6 year old and she is now used to me asking her to do things for me. It's really neat, she knows how to change her 2 year old sister's diaper. She even gets everything she needs ready for her to do just that. Diaper, baby powder, diaper rash cream, baby wipes... I always kid her and tell her that she can already get married because she is so helpful.

Your question made me smile because if i had the answer i'd probably be rich by now! Well i really dont know because i have 3 kids myself all boys aged 17,15 and 10 and i totally understand what you are talking about and like you i have tried everything from asking nicely to closing the door to their room until i can no longer close my eyes to the mess and end up clearing it out myself. They were not always like this because i remember us all picking and clearing toys etc together when they were younger so if someone has something that works i'd love to hear it.