What can i do to make my kids clean up after they are done with things.?

Question

I have spent 2 days cleaning my 5 and 8 year old girls rooms. my 8 year old is better at picking up than the 5 year old. The 5 year old is so stubborn that she would rather sit in her room for an hour or 2 and cry than pick up the socks that she took off in the living room and just left on the floor. I have given tons of things, (toys,clothes and shoes) to the resent disaster victims in our area. she doesn't care when i take toys and get rid of them to prove to her that i will "throw" them away.we don't buy most of them they get the of toys from there grand parents for x-mas, birthdays etc. can anyone help me to get through to my 5 year old. i have tried ,time out, spanking, yelling, no tv, going to bed early, no night time snack before bed, and nothing has helped. I work a full time job and i hate to have to come home and not be able to enjoy my girls it seems like all i get done is cleaning up after my husband, kids, and pets. Can someone please help me!

Answer 1

How about teaching her some respect?  Instead of totally disrespecting her, try letting her be who she wants to be.

Answer 2

Regarding toys, we have a 'one box at a time' rule.  All my daughters toys are on plastic boxes (cars in one, train set in another etc) and she is allowed one box at a time.  Before she can get something different out, the first lot has to be away.  We also keep the number of boxes to a minimum (some are in the shed outside) and rotate them so she only has half a dozen things to choose from.

I make tidying a competition.  E.g she had the marble run out yesterday and I said 'whoever gets the most pieces away in the box gets a chocolate' then made to tidy up, whereupon she dashed ahead of me and did most of it herself.  This could also work with an egg times 'if its all away before the sand is gone you gets a biscuit' kind of thing.

As you have 2 kids you could make it a competition between them over a week (tidiest room)  and the winner each day gets a sticker.  Whoever has the most stickers at the end of the week gets a treat.

Answer 3

There is nothing you can do about that.  Give up. Find a new battle.

Answer 4

Is there anything that your 5yr old LOVES to do or eat or watch? Cause i would take those away.

Do you give your 8year old allowance? I would give more "perks" to your 8 year old and nothing to your 5 year old and have her see that. Maybe then she'll get her butt in gear. And tell her that her sibling  gets this because she cleaned up the living room and that she gets nothing cause she did nothing.

I wouldn't suggest allowance tho for your 5 year old. I don't believe in giving allowance that young, but try giving her some perks. (candy, have her favorite dinner, etc)

Or you can try making a game out of it, i started doing that with my daughter, but she is only 21 months, so it may not work with a 5 year old. But its worth a try.

But i think i would just give more perks to your 8 year old and have the 5 year old see that, maybe then she'll realize that to get something she has to give something, and that would be cleaning up after herself.

Answer 5

One of my sons was like your 5 year old.  She may have organization issues.  For bigger messes, she may not know where to start or how to finish cleaning and that may make cleaning up incredibly frustrating for her, even if it's just a pair of socks.

You could try simple checklist and help the girls go through for a while until they get the hang of it.  The 8 year old could even take over helping her sister with the list.  I've done this for my son, and do it for myself.

We've also used several reward systems.  One was tokens (I put little clip art pictures on a sheet of paper and cut then into one inch squares).  When they earned all the tokens we went out and did something big like a family trip or dinner and a movie.  When they got older we used dimes.  They earned a dime for each job they completed up to a dollar a day.

Answer 6

cleaning is no fun 4 kids so turn it into a game.try making a star chart and get ur kids 2 compete for who has the cleaner room.kids respond well 2 modeling the behaviour u want so help(notice the word help)them pack up their things with them

Answer 7

Children learn in the first 3 to 4 years of their life.

for your case you can clean urthings while ur children are in front of u so that they can learn, ask the elder children to do things while the young are present.

gradually the younger will learn and will clean by them  

Answer 8

Instead of handing out punishments, try rewards! Her favorite treat or a trip to someplace she likes on Saturday if she keeps her room clean all week.  Or you can make a game out of it, have the girls 'race' to see who can clean up the fastest.  My 4 year old and I will sing a little song and see if her room's picked up by the time the song if over.

Answer 9

Well, it seems in the past you have let her stay in her room for an hour or 2 and cry instead of making her pick up those socks.  So my suggestion is to get her up, you lifting her body if need be, walk her over to the socks, bend her over, yours hands on her hands, grab the socks, and walk them back to her room where they go.  And THEN, make her sit in her room for those 1-2 hours to cry.

I do that with my 4.5 yr olds.. they hate it but I feel better..  it was them who picked up the socks witrh my assitance so I feel like I won that battle, ya know?

GOOD LUCK!

Answer 10

Try giving them an allowance....but make it where if they don't clean up then they don't get paid...otherwise they won't get the point! My oldest kid was a real pain about cleaning. Once I started giving him an allowance he pretty much straightened up. My daughter on the other hand has always been pretty good about cleaning b/c I started making it a game for her from the time she was able to walk. But even with her we've started giving her an allowance (she's 4) Both kids know that if they don't do their work then they don't get paid...but they really like having their own money so they keep their stuff picked up.