How do I keep my house clean and organized when my children just make it a mess again?
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make them help you
I know what you mean by that.
Have them help you and make a game out of it.
I used to get really mad when I would come home from somewhere and the kids would be there with their dad and they were all watching TV letting the littlest one make a mess.
I would come in the door and say hi and turn around and walk back out and tell them to clean it up before I get back.
It was always cleaned up.
Heh, as a mother I get this question all the time because my house is always clean and organized. What you do is:
1) As soon as you see a mess clean it up.
2) Right after your children make a mess, you straighten out the mess.
3) Buy some cleaning materials and keep them nearby so that when a mess appears you can use them to clean it up.
4) Recognize that children make messes and be ready to always clean up after them as soon as they make a mess.
5) Dedicate most of your time to cleaning up messes and keeping everything organized, thats what parents are for.
6) Never waste time asking the children to clean things or organize, they will learn how to do this from your example, and it gives you more, extra, full time for cleaning and organizing.
How old are your kids?
We use a "Saturday Box." I tell the kids everything that they aren't directly using has to be put away before Dad gets home. If it isn't, it goes in the box. At bedtime, if things are left out, again, they go in the box. They get everything back on Saturday when they put it away. Then we start over again. When I'm consistent, they are pretty good about putting things away.
If they borrow something from another family member and leave it out, they lose the right to borrow it again for some amount of time.
I know it is easier to clean things up ourselves (especially when the kids are little) but the more we get on them about it the easier it gets. Plus, their future spouses will really appreciate it!
lock them in there rooms in tell school
organize chores for them. so each can help a bit each week maybe twice a week or so depending on what you want done.
and your children's age. a 2 year will not be able to do anything compared to you 10 year old.
Ha ha Mine were the same way. i used to get my kids to pick up all there stuff about 30 min before dad came home. You could do like my mother in law did don't let them play in the house.
Kids LOVE to help. Make it a game for them to help. Give them points, stars, tickets, etc. that they can "BUY" a treat with. Make them WANT to be a part of the solution!
I have five kiddos and I feel your pain...1st of all lots of prayers!! And second a great website you have to try!!! It did wonders for me...It is called www.flylady.net She also has a great book to read called "reflections from the kitchen sink". Give it a whirl you wont be sorry. And try not to be too hard on yourself. Your kids are only young once and they are only under your roof for 18 years and we are living to be in our 80's these days, that's a looooong time to have a clean house after the kids are grown.. God Bless you and your family:)
My daughter has 3 children, ages 5 and younger. The two oldest love to help with chores. She's taking advantage of the young years to instill "helping," and discipline. This is the best time to get the habits set.
I had a neighbor that use to make her children put away each toy as they were finished with it - now that was a little OCD in my view - and she was very uptight. The kids are all neurotic now.
Have a major pickup 3x a day and send each child around with a little basket to collect what doesn't belong.
After meals, each can rinse their own plate and put it in the dishwasher. Have regular chores scheduled and hang it up where they can see the schedule.
Stick to chores or NO TV and NO playtime til the chores are finished.
Closet organizers help a lot.
When they are 10, they can learn to do laundry safely with your supervision. All of my children were doing laundry on their own by the time they hit junior high. If they didn't have clean clothes to wear, that was their problem.
Be consistent and set a good example.
Remember, if the sun is out and you can spend time outdoors with them do so, then when you come in you can do chores together or bake, do crafts, or play a game as a family. After all, life should be fun too! :)
I would say the same thing and my mother-in-law would tell me "we all had kids and we kept our house clean, you can too!" I don't know how they did it. They must have been scrubbing well into the night! LOL! Anyways I found that once you deep clean each room, such as the kitchen,bathroom,living room etc... and everything that is supposed to be in that room is in that room and stuff is not all over the place (clutter) then it is easier to keep clean. Clean a mess as soon as you see it. You might be cleaning a majority of the day but your kids will watch you and want to help, you can give them a simple task(according to their age),(mine are two and three and are always making messes!) like give them asmall plastic bag with your supervision and have them pick up garbage or laundry to be washed. Open their toy box and move it to the biggest pile of toys for easy pickup and just start picking them up and they will fallow because they want to spend time with you no matter what you are doing! Just remember that with kids your house is never going to be spotless but if you do a little everyday with them it gets easier and a lot will eventually get done.
If I tell my DS7 to do something, quite often I am met with resistance. However, if I ask him to help me do something he gets very excited and, when we are finished with the first task he asks what we can do next.
Create a routine for cleaning up your kids' toys and get involved in the process with your children. Make it a part of their nightly bedtime routine.
Also, check out this website for more information:
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