This week has kicked my bottom. We started school, on my oldest daughter’s 16th birthday. Aaaannnnd she started her first job. At 8 A.M. that morning. Aaannnnddd I had to be at a grocery co-op at 8 A.M. that morning. And birthday dinner that night.
So. I’m one tired Mama. I survived! We’ve had a great week, but I’m sorry that I haven’t touched my computer much. But I did want to share this fun tip for encouraging your teen to “Clean your room!”
Please tell me we’re not the only family whose girls can turn a room into a disaster zone in less than 48 hours? And they seem to enjoy their nest like this, but it drives this Mama *crazy*. “Please clean up your room,” does no good. Somehow they hear an implied “eventually,” and there are too many other fun things to do first. The room sort of fades out of the memory banks.
So I came up with an effective approach to communicate my priorities. Behold:
The “Clean it” screensaver with reminder post it note.
And it worked. 🙂 Tell me your favorite kid cleaning tips in the comments!
Dawn says
August 8, 2015 at 12:48 PMMy teenager wants to have her acquaintances over and she is willing to clean her room so as not to be embarrassed. The same thing happens if her boyfriend comes over. Her room opens up to the living room and the door stays open while someone is in the living room to chaperon.
Teresa says
August 8, 2015 at 4:51 PMWhen my kids were asking to be able to go somewhere I would tell them room first. Then I followed thru. If I knew my daughter had a dateSat night, I would start reminding her on Wed.
Julie C says
August 11, 2015 at 3:40 PMBox it ALL up, charge a quarter for each and every item to get them back. My house–my rules! 🙂
Darcy says
November 9, 2015 at 8:15 AMWe tell our girls that either they clean it or we will and when we do, it is with a large garbage bag in hand! They like their stuff too much to let us do it.
Synthia says
November 9, 2015 at 2:06 PMThis is what we used to do. Mine are all grown now and only the youngest (20) still lives with us. She cleans her room regularly so my work is done. 🙂 But we used this and didn’t have to get into a battle with ours ever. When they were little they cleaned their room regularly because it was just part of daily chores. One was a neat-freak anyway.
kim says
November 9, 2015 at 8:35 AMI used to grab a garbage bag and help the kids clean. They didn’t like my help. Some kids are just messy and need a little help getting it all organized. I encourage them to purge all the extra stuff and only keep things they really want to. Also, each kid had a container in the attic to keep the stuff they couldn’t let go of, but didn’t need in their room. It’s hard to stay neat when you have too much “stuff.”
Gwen Brown says
November 9, 2015 at 1:31 PMYES! I agree…reducing volume of stuff is key. 🙂
kim says
November 10, 2015 at 12:40 AMGreat idea! Here’s another room cleaning idea that I love, although it’s not mine. It idea can be applied in other rooms as well.
http://www.howdoesshe.com/how-to-teach-your-child-to-clean-any-bedroom-in-ten-minutes-without-using-a-blowtorch/
Gwen Brown says
November 10, 2015 at 10:38 AMOh, I’ve SEEN this one and it’s a classic! Love it!