Often times throughout the years, I help my kids get rid of clutter in their rooms. Especially before Christmas arrives! There is no way Santa is bringing more toys, gifts or gadgets, if their rooms are a complete mess. Moms, you know exactly what I am talking about.
Although my kid's rooms may never be the type of room in a magazine article that is spotless, I just need them be able to make a path so I can walk in to put clothes away or be able to walk in without stepping on a toy. Ever step on a LEGO barefoot... Oh yeah, you know what I'm talking about!
Every parent has a breaking point when it comes to clutter. When you walk into a room and you can’t think because all you see is the crap everywhere! You probably know how to get rid of clutter, but do your kids? I want to share 7 tips with you on how to help your kids get rid of clutter.
Checklist
- Make an appointment with your child for their time
- Teach them it's okay to say good-bye to items
- Let them keep whatever they want - no questions asked!
- Organize their belongings - get bins and help them sort.
- Be a good role model (Even parents need to get rid of clutter)
- Walk them through each step to get it done properly
- Celebrate
Make an appointment
My kids don't like it when I just announce "time to clean up your room!" Honestly, I wouldn't enjoy that as well. They're in the middle of something or maybe they had other plans. I'm pretty sure it wasn't 'Hey, let's clean up my room'!
Show your kids some respect and tell them a few days ahead of time and remind them a couple of times before the day arrives. Making an appointment with your children will let them know you are serious about clean up time.
It's okay to say good-bye to stuff
Teach your kids to say goodbye to items that they no longer need. Usually, kid clutter comes down too many toys, lack of containers or even just plain ole organization.
They can give their toys to kids in need or they can even sell them to make some extra money. Anything that will get your kids motivated to say goodbye to their unnecessary items is a good thing!
Let them keep whatever they want
As a child, my room was always messy. And my dad uses to come in with a big green trash barrel and start throwing everything away. I would cry. The more he threw away, the more I wanted to keep.
Often my mom would step in and allow me to keep things. I give my boys a plastic bin and tell them they can put whatever they want into it and we will keep it. No questions asked. The rest of the stuff we will continue to decide if we will throw it away, donate or keep it.
Organize their belongings
Not all clutter needs to be given away or thrown away, in fact, the organization is a good tool. Teach your kids to organize their belongings. Everything needs to have a home! Teach your children that when they put away their toys and belongings, they have a better chance of finding them later.
Plus, it will lead to feeling peaceful and calm! You can teach young children how to organize their belongings, they don’t need to be a certain age to understand it.
Be a good role model
It doesn’t make much sense if you are asking your kids to stay organized and get rid of clutter, but you struggle in this area. If you wish to help your kids get rid of clutter, then you also need to get rid of your clutter and keep it tidy.
Getting rid of clutter together is an excellent way to spend time with each other! Take an hour one afternoon and make some fun of it! Turn up the music and get to organizing. Your children will be watching you and they will learn a lot.
Set a timer
If your kids are like mine, they don’t enjoy cleaning their room. However, if I tell them to clean and organize their room for 15 minutes they do a lot better!
Most kid rooms can be cleaned if the spend a little bit of time on it. Set the timer. And everyone cleans, picks up, organizes until the timer goes. Once it does. Everyone is done and their room should be better than when they began!
Do it together
Another great tip to getting your kids to clean and get rid of clutter, is to help them. I know, its not fun but if i tell my boys, i will spend the 15 minutes helping you. We get so much more done. They have laser focus and we move much quicker through their room.
Step by step
When kid's bedrooms are a mess, it can be overwhelming to get started on it. Where do you start?
However, if I explain things to them in a list, my kids get this so much better and it's less overwhelming. I might say let's pick up dirty clothes first. And then, let's put all the building blocks in this bin. And, all these LEGOs, let's put them in a bin over here.
The next thing you know, the room is pretty clean. Seriously, this works with both my kids and I bet it will work with yours too!
Celebrate
Your kid's rooms are clean! Hooray! Remind them of how good it feels to have everything in its place. Take a picture and celebrate all the work you did together! Have a dance party or do something else fun together.
Cleaning kids rooms can be a lot of work and overwhelming to all involved. By following the steps about you and your child can work out on a day and time to clean their room.
Teaching your kids how doing this is a good idea! It’ll be a tool they will carry with them for the rest of their life.
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