How I Get My Kids To Clean Their Rooms

Are you looking to get your kids to clean up their room and after themselves? These tips will help set in motion the cleaning process. Making your life easier and teaching your kids an invaluable skill.

How I get my Kids to Clean Their Rooms

Getting your kids to keep their rooms clean can be a struggle, but it doesn’t have to be. You want your kids to be comfortable in your home and in their own space, but you also don’t want them (or you) to be living in a science experiment.

Teaching your kids how to clean up, will not only set the stage for their overall cleanliness behavior and demeanor but will also save you a lot of time. Studies show, that children who learn how to clean and care for their living spaces early on in life develop a sense of pride and self-sufficiency.

So what can you do to get kids to clean their rooms? Well, there are a few tips and tricks…here’s how I get my kids to clean their rooms.

The first step to getting your kids to clean their room is to be open about the process. The more information you give the more they will understand.

teaching kids to clean - young child dusting ff table with rubber gloves on

Set an Example

Set an example for the kids to follow. No, this does not mean that your house needs to be in perfect order all day every day. It just means that they need to see that you attempt to keep things clean, neat, and hopefully organized.

It is so much easier to do things (art projects, cooking) if you start with a fairly clean slate. Pick a time every day when the whole family spends a few minutes picking up the house and putting things where they go. Really, twenty minutes of family laser-focused cleaning can go a long way.

My daughter now doesn’t need to be told to clean her room anymore at age 13. She does do it on her own after watching me.

Be Consistent With Your Expectations

Your house and your children’s rooms don’t have to be spotless every day. However, you do need to decide on the tasks that you want to be done each day and be consistent about following through until they get it done.

This might be making the bed, putting dirty clothes in the hamper, and putting toys away.

Get Rid of Excess Stuff

Chances are you already know how much easier it is to keep your home clean and organized when you have less stuff. The same will be true for your kiddos!

Help them go through their belongings and clear out clothes and shoes that they have outgrown and toys and books that they no longer play with. Anything that is still in good condition can be donated to your local charity that helps families in need.

It is a good idea to have your children purge their clothing and toys a couple of times a year. This keeps everything from getting too cluttered. Some good times of year to do this are before Christmas and while they are home on summer break.

But it is essential to let them choose.

Do you use it or play with it?
Does it fit?
Is it broken, stained, or ripped?
Do you love it?

The answers to these questions will help your kids decide which pile to put each item in. It is the same process I use when purging items from our home.

Make It Easy to Put things Away

Make it easy for your kids to put their things away. Every item should have a home. This might be storage containers, shelves, or bins.

If you have younger (shorter) children, arrange their closets so that they can hang their clothes at their level. You don’t have to spend a fortune on storage containers either; the dollar store has some great, inexpensive options.

Teach Them How

You can’t just expect your kids to “know” how to do things, you will need to teach them and show them how. Teach them how to pull the sheets and comforter up to make the bed. Show them how to fold their clothes and where to put them away.

Get on your hands and knees with them to teach them how there isn’t anything under the bed that doesn’t belong there (stinky laundry or food trash anyone?).

As they age, you teach them how to wash their clothes, vacuum their room, or dust their shelves. Their chores should be age-appropriate, but as they get older, that means you can do a little less mama!

The bonus is they will know how to clean their own homes later in life because it all started early.

Lastly…

You probably won’t ever get spotless kids’ rooms, but you can teach them how to take care of their things over time. And how to put their items away where they belong.

They will probably come to realize that they enjoy being in their space more when it isn’t cluttered, messy, or distracting.