How to Raise Tidy Kids: Get Them to Pick Up

Raising tidy kids can be a struggle for parents. Kids do not feel keeping a tidy room or home is important. They can be just as happy playing in a sparkling room as well as a room filled with clutter, dirty laundry, garbage and old snack wrappers. Some parents prefer to do the housecleaning themselves to just get it done without involving their children. This is a mistake because not only are you not teaching your kids how to pick up after themselves, but you are not giving them the opportunity to feel like an important contributor to the household. Although getting a child to pick up after themselves is not an easy job, there are some tips you can follow to make the experience more enjoyable for your child while building good habits.

Start off with small tasks. Do not overwhelm your child by giving them an enormous project to do. Break the tasks down into small pieces. Have your child pick up his or her toys one day and vacuum the next or give him a few small chores that he or she can work on such as dusting, taking out the garbage or doing the dishes after dinner. When you pile on a list of chores for your child to do all at once, it becomes stressful for them and they end up putting up a fuss about contributing to household cleaning rather than feeling good about it.

Raising tidy kids can be easier with incentives. Create a chore list for the week having one chore per day for your child. At the end of the week offer your kid a reward of some kind for a job well done. This not only gives them something to work towards but also makes them feel good about themselves after the job is done.

Set examples by being tidy yourself. You cannot expect your children to learn how to pick up after themselves if you are not doing it yourself. Children learn from observing and if they see you throwing wrappers and empty cartons on the countertop then that is exactly what they are going to do.

When it comes to creating tidy kids in your youngest children, involve older siblings. Have your oldest child help you out around the house to set an example for your little one. Make sure your older child keeps a tidy bedroom and also has a set of weekly chores that need to be done. If your youngest kid is watching your older one picking up after him or herself and contributing to family housecleaning, then they will be more inclined to contribute as well.

You might want to offer a weekly allowance. They can earn a set amount of money each weekly by completing their chores each week in a timely fashion. If the job is not done well, they do not get paid, however if they do their best to complete the job on time and to the best of their ability, they will earn their allowance for that week. This not only gets them involved in keeping the house tidy, but also teaches them the importance of earning their money by a job well done.

You can minimize the frustration of raising tidy kids by starting early and being consistent. Following the tips above will help the process along, but you as a parent need to set the ground rules and expectations. Each child should be a part of the whole process of keeping a tidy home. By breaking it down into small pieces, offering rewards or allowance for a job well done and setting examples by being tidy yourself, you can expect the process to go a bit smoother.