What age was your child REALLY able to keep their room tidy.

[Anonymous]

Yes. We encourage them to put something away before getting something else out. But unless we are hawk eyed and do nothing else but play or redirect it happens. What is realistic for a five year old? As a teen both parents were slobs, is there a sweet spot between early childhood and teenage sloth?

[Anonymous]

8

[Anonymous]

I’ll let you know when my 14 yr old manages to tidy their room without threats of punishment.

The trick when younger is to limit the amount of stuff available to them. We’d put toys in bins and rotate them in our storage area except the ones used often.

[Anonymous]

When my 4 yr old told me the housekeeper would pick up the mess, I realized that my DH a was not modeling the best behavior (because that was something he would definitely do) so I started with DH and how he needed to model good behavior that DCs should not be under the notion that he did not have to tidy things but that fell on the shoulders or myself or the housekeeper. The motto then became in our house...everyone picks up their own messes.

[Anonymous]

At 5 mine could do it herself but with some follow up.
So I might say go and tidy your room and pick up whats on the floor and put it away.
Then when I go in I would have to follow up with: Theres a stuffed animal on the floor where does it go etc.

[Anonymous]

Still hasn’t happened and my kids are 15 and 10. I have to point out the mess every now and then, and they tidy up.

[Anonymous]

30?

[Anonymous]

9

[Anonymous]

I'm 36, and my husband would tell you I still can't. And he's right

[Anonymous]

My 7 yr old definitely can’t. And it’s not from lack of trying. She just doesn’t make good decisions about where to put stuff.

[Anonymous]

I think it's more personality than age. I'm the first pp. I am a bit of a messy person. I like things out where I can see them and have a visual memory for where things are. My husband likes things put away. My son was like me until 8 when he dramatically pared down his things and started cleaning on his own

[Anonymous]

Definitely more personality than age. My 10 year old daughter started keeping her room clean at age 9, but was never super messy to begin with. My 8 year old's room is a disaster and I don't expect him to suddenly turn neater in the next year. My mom says I never kept my room clean, ever. I definitely have slob like tendencies that I constantly struggle with in order to keep the house clean. My husband is much neater than I am. So at least one child took after him.

[Anonymous]

At about 10, I told my kids that if they didn’t have their dirty clothes in their hampers, everything picked up off the floor, and everything tidy on their dressers, then their rooms wouldn’t be cleaned when the housekeeper cane. I told her the same thing.
Younger than that, and they didn’t care. It made no difference to them if their floor wasn’t vacuumed or they had to wear size 4t leggings as capris because everything else was dirty.

[Anonymous]

Probably 5? But the way we got there was by not having toys in their bedrooms. Clothes have always gone in the hamper, they’ve been able to do that since they could take their clothes off. Beds are made every morning (we helped until they could do it themselves). Before bed, everything is put away, so rubber bands go into the drawer in the bathroom, books are stacked neatly or put away, desks are cleared off (except for the things that always live on the desks). When we lived in temporary housing for a while and they shared a room and did have toys in there because there wasn’t room elsewhere, it was the same. They were 4 then. We just knew we had to either clean before dinner or allot extra time before bed. The key has always been having a place for everything. It’s not like they organize their stuffed animals or put their books in alphabetical order, but when you have bins or boxes or drawers for everything, it’s easy for them to put things away.

[Anonymous]

Op, if you want a clean house, you can insist on it, but don't be thinking it's an issue of training. Once on their own, adults behave as they wish. It's not about how they were "taught" by their parents.