making bed/cleaning up room

[Anonymous]

Making the bed/cleaning up their rooms...does this really correlate to success in later life?

[Anonymous]

I have three university degrees, including a PhD, and my room was always a mess. My mom gave up nagging me to make my bed by the time I was in middle school. Her only rule was no food in the bedroom, and do your own laundry.

Do a PhD and a good job qualify as success? I also have a husband and a daughter, and they're still talking to me, which must count for something.

But I'm not sure whether you'll be able to use my story as evidence for your parents. They'll probably still make you clean your room.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have three university degrees, including a PhD, and my room was always a mess. My mom gave up nagging me to make my bed by the time I was in middle school. Her only rule was no food in the bedroom, and do your own laundry.

Do a PhD and a good job qualify as success? I also have a husband and a daughter, and they're still talking to me, which must count for something.

But I'm not sure whether you'll be able to use my story as evidence for your parents. They'll probably still make you clean your room.

I graduated from community college and have had the same career for 22 years, and my room was also always a mess. I would hide the mess in the closet and make my bed with my bedspread only when company came over a few times a year.

[Anonymous]

I ask that my kids put their laundry in a hamper (theirs or mine) and then put away the laundry I wash. They aren't allowed to eat in their rooms. Every 2 weeks the maid comes and they need to straighten up before she is here so that she can dust and mop. My kids are 8 and 10.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have three university degrees, including a PhD, and my room was always a mess. My mom gave up nagging me to make my bed by the time I was in middle school. Her only rule was no food in the bedroom, and do your own laundry.

Do a PhD and a good job qualify as success? I also have a husband and a daughter, and they're still talking to me, which must count for something.

But I'm not sure whether you'll be able to use my story as evidence for your parents. They'll probably still make you clean your room.

NP. No, those things alone don't equal success.

[Anonymous]

Pick your battles. Messy room isn't worth fighting about. As long as they know how to clean, when the time comes and they have their own place, either they will or they won't!

[Anonymous]

I wonder if messy rooms are correlated with ADD? I don't have ADD and am just really clean and meticulous. Everything I touch, even at work is incredibly organized. My case files are incredible and coworkers like working with me. DH has ADD, is messy and can't organize his way out of a box. He's still very successful though, but he's always searching for lost things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if messy rooms are correlated with ADD? I don't have ADD and am just really clean and meticulous. Everything I touch, even at work is incredibly organized. My case files are incredible and coworkers like working with me. DH has ADD, is messy and can't organize his way out of a box. He's still very successful though, but he's always searching for lost things.

Well just as a personal anecdote, I have 2 ADD children and the mess is hellish, not just in their room/bathroom, but entire house. I cannot keep the house clean. Not for longer than an afternoon. Both kids are away at summer camp and my house has been clean for the entire time. Such a nice break.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Making the bed/cleaning up their rooms...does this really correlate to success in later life?

It correlates to people who like order and following rules.

[Anonymous]

Well, does everything have to be connected to “success later in life” in order to be worthwhile?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Making the bed/cleaning up their rooms...does this really correlate to success in later life?

It correlates to people who like order and following rules.

I disagree, although my sample size is one. I am very Type A, hyper organized, and am a total rule follower. However, I never made my bed as a child because we had a maid who did it every day. I'm not sure what is meant by cleaning up a room, but I definitely never "cleaned" the house because of the maid. I don't remember unloading the dishwasher, for example, or ever doing laundry (the maid did it all). My room wasn't messy (see, Type A), but I don't really recall picking it up - probably because either I kept it neat or the maid did it. I now make my bed (we have a maid but she doesn't come every day) and keep my house very neat and tidy. I would also qualify myself as successful (multiple degrees, high salary, very good marriage, wonderful kids, dream house, great job, tons of friends, lots of happiness, etc.), but I suppose everyone's metric for that could be different. I do make my kids make their beds and pick up their things even though we have a maid. I was able to transition well to life in my parents' house with a maid to life on my own on the outside, but I attribute that more to my Type A personality than anything else. One of my kids had my personality, but regardless, I want to try to set them up for future success by having them do more around the house than my parents had me do.

[Anonymous]

My six year old does her own laundry (Marie Kondo style) and asks to help me clean. She’s probably a unicorn . We don’t ask our kids to make their beds, but they start appropriate household chores as soon as they can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Making the bed/cleaning up their rooms...does this really correlate to success in later life?

It correlates to people who like order and following rules.

This. I don't think it correlates to success.