Do your kids clean their rooms?

[Anonymous]

Yes.

They clean their rooms every weekend. Clean sheets on the beds and beds made, everything picked up and put away, floor vaccumed. The rest of the week I expect clothes to be put in the laundry and dishes to be put in the kitchen sink.

If they don't clean it, I'm cleaning it, but I will haul a huge amount of stuff to the Goodwill.

[Anonymous]

i will do the massive spring clean and they love the room - so I tell them they have to maintain it and for the most part, they do it, putting things away, putting the bed back together (albeit haphazardly). These are life skills people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. Having parented four kids (oldest is college sophomore, youngest is rising high school freshman), this is the kind of thing that really.does.not.matter.

So true!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. Having parented four kids (oldest is college sophomore, youngest is rising high school freshman), this is the kind of thing that really.does.not.matter.

So true!!!

I disagree. My mom kept an untidy house (single working mom, I don't blame her) and I never learned to clean/organize well. It takes a LOT of effort to get to that point of organization for me. And because I'm used to mess, it doesn't bother me a ton and so I don't "see"
It as much as someone else would. I would rather not pass on my ways to my kids, but it's hard for me, I'm working on it!

[Anonymous]

My son does. He used to not care, but he seems to like having things organized now. He usually does it on a weekend day. He is 9.

My 5 year old couldn't care less.

[Anonymous]

We don't allow food outside the kitchen, so it is never gross.

He manages his laundry and makes his bed when asked.

I just don't care.

[Anonymous]

I'm completely anti-bug, so food doesn't go anywhere other than the kitchen, dining room, living room if they are going to vacuum when they're done with the movie or out the back door.

Clothes that don't make it down to the laundry room won't get washed, and if their basket is still in their room, their clothes don't get folded (there's nowhere to put clean folded clothes other than the floor if the basket's not in it's hanger). If they leave the clean clothes in the laundry room, eventually they won't have clean clothes when they get out of a shower, and that serves as a great motivator to some get their basket and take care of everything.

I don't care if the bed is made, but I do care if the sheet corners are torn up because they were hanging on the floor when the vacuum ate them.

If I walk into the room while they are playing or at school and there are things on the floor, I get a garbage bag and everything out of place goes into it (this includes things that aren't on the floor but aren't where they belong). I leave the garbage bag in the closed closet, and the child has 24 hours to take care of what is in the bag. Anything in the bag or not in it's proper place is donated immediately, to friends, family, or Goodwill.

The floor and furniture may get slightly dusty, but the kids are pretty good about dusting and vacuuming. They are all sensitive or allergic to dust, so I don't say anything, I let them cough and sneeze until they decide they need to get to it.

I do the windows, that way there won't be any streaks.

No television or video games in their rooms, and the laptops are only in the teens' rooms for homework, the chargers stay downstairs. If the child "forgets" to plug it in, I get it the next day and look through the history and keep it my room that evening, and they can figure out how to do their homework with the laptop. Previously it's meant bribing a sibling with the promise of doing their chores in exchange for using the sibling's laptop, and when the siblings all had too much homework to allow the child who "forgot" to borrow it, it meant a trip to the library to use the public computers, endless complaints about the impossibility of accessing the required content once the teen was back home for the evening, and a note left in the teacher's email the next day explaining that the kid couldn't completely finish the homework due to consequences and encouraged the teacher to mete out natural consequences as well (whether that was detention, an incomplete or a failed homework grade). Somehow, the kids never forget to bring the laptops down anymore...

Rooms may be closed during homework time, while changing clothes or while sleeping. Because a few of the kids sweat a lot and have very strong BO, the doors must remain open the rest of the time so that they can air out. If the doors could be shut, I wouldnt care about the kids keeping their rooms clean, but it is what it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
i will do the massive spring clean and they love the room - so I tell them they have to maintain it and for the most part, they do it, putting things away, putting the bed back together (albeit haphazardly). These are life skills people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
i will do the massive spring clean and they love the room - so I tell them they have to maintain it and for the most part, they do it, putting things away, putting the bed back together (albeit haphazardly). These are life skills people.

Eyeroller, you don't think that learning to vacuum, pick up your things, and duct your room are life skills? If you object to the brevity of what OP considers her kids keeping up with it, have you considered that you don't know how old her kids are?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
i will do the massive spring clean and they love the room - so I tell them they have to maintain it and for the most part, they do it, putting things away, putting the bed back together (albeit haphazardly). These are life skills people.

Eyeroller, you don't think that learning to vacuum, pick up your things, and duct your room are life skills? If you object to the brevity of what OP considers her kids keeping up with it, have you considered that you don't know how old her kids are?

+1. Plus, teaching this skills is a huge gift to your kids' future spouses. I speak from experience. DH and SIL and unbelievable slobs and think it's a huge burden to be asked to pick up after themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
i will do the massive spring clean and they love the room - so I tell them they have to maintain it and for the most part, they do it, putting things away, putting the bed back together (albeit haphazardly). These are life skills people.

Eyeroller, you don't think that learning to vacuum, pick up your things, and duct your room are life skills? If you object to the brevity of what OP considers her kids keeping up with it, have you considered that you don't know how old her kids are?

+1. Plus, teaching this skills is a huge gift to your kids' future spouses. I speak from experience. DH and SIL and unbelievable slobs and think it's a huge burden to be asked to pick up after themselves.

Sure, but if you are NOT militant about it that too can be a huge gift to your kids' future spouses. It does not always have to be perfect.

[Anonymous]

Housekeeper makes their bed and cleans their room every day.

[Anonymous]

My preschoolers do it. I have to remind, check, and sometimes help, but they do a decent job of putting things away and making the beds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My preschoolers do it. I have to remind, check, and sometimes help, but they do a decent job of putting things away and making the beds.

Just adding, I usually am the one putting away the clothes.

[Anonymous]

10 and 12 yr olds. They make beds every morning. Get reminded to put their laundry in the hamper at bedtime. Put their clothes away after I do laundry. And, every other week do a big flurry of putting their crap away before the cleaning lady comes. She does the dusting, vacuuming, changes sheets.