When it comes to keeping your kids’ rooms clean and organised, it can often feel like an uphill battle. There are, however, a few tips and tricks you can use to make it less of a generational warfare situation. Intrigued? Read on, because below you’ll find just five of the ways you can improve matters. You can also find more information on cleaning rooms, especially carpets, from the websites of various industry experts such as Stainmaster, as guides, blogs and tips are all often shared online.
A Place For Everything…
It’s true that it takes less time to tidy up if you know where to put everything, so be sure to have clear guidelines about where everything goes. If you can get your child to help you with this process, then so much the better. The more involved they can be with how a sense of organisation and cleanliness is created within their space, the better. The less you have to think about when you’re tidying up, the easier the whole process becomes. It’s that simple.
Timing…
Most parents encourage kids to tidy up before bed and this does make a certain amount of sense. However, this is also the time of day when your kids are the most tired and often the most difficult. It might be an idea to ask them to tidy up while you make dinner, so they can spend 15 minutes putting away toys, then eat, and relax before bed.
Labels
Once you have defined where everything goes in your kids’ rooms, make up some labels that reflect this. Use pictures if your kids are too little for written labels. This will also make it easier – and quicker – for the kids to put their toys and clothes away themselves.
Rubbish
Make sure there is a rubbish bin for papers, discarded containers and pencils, etc. in each child’s room. If there is nowhere sensible to put these things, kids tend to just throw them on the floor – and this can become a habit. Encourage your children to put empty packaging and broken toys in their rubbish bin – and, if they’re old enough, to empty it weekly, or whatever your usual bin routine may be.
Work With Your Child
Not all kids are the same – if you have more than one, you’ll already know this. Some kids like to be neat and tidy; they like organising and arranging their ‘stuff’, and are naturally neat. Some children dump things on the floor and can’t be bothered putting their toys in a cupboard. Find a system that works for each child. The litter bugs may do well with big-boxed storage units that let them just throw everything in and pull it out when they want. Neat and organised kids might prefer very detailed storage systems. Working with your child’s natural tendencies whenever possible is a lot easier than trying to change them.
Keeping kids’ rooms clean and organised doesn’t have to be a hassle. If you set up a few systems and make sure your children know what’s expected of them, parent-child clashes can be kept to a minimum – on this front anyway.
Do you have any advice on keeping the kids’ rooms clean and organised?
Share your insights with other parents in the comments box below.
This is an S2 POST.