To Clean Or Not To Clean (Your Child's Room)
by Rachel Paxton - rachel@creativehomemaking.com
Whether or not to help your child clean their room. It's an age
old dilemma. I still clearly remember my dad patiently (and
sometimes not so patiently) explaining and demonstrating to me
how to fold the sheet corners on my bed. I just didn't
understand how the way he learned to make his bed in the army had
to do with me and how I made my bed. Why was he torturing me
this way?
I never did figure out why having such a neatly made bed was so
important to my dad, but he eventually gave up and found other
ways to ensure I grew up with serviceable housekeeping skills.
So how do you pass these skills along to your children without
them hating you for it?
I've heard several theories on how parents should encourage their
children to keep their rooms clean. Some parents just insist
that the bedroom is kept clean, every minute of every day.
That's fine if your child was born with a true desire to live in
a home that is neat and organized at all times (like my husband).
Personally I quickly tired of arguing with our 12-yr-old daughter
about keeping her room clean.
When our daughter was younger, I never insisted her room be
spotless. It always had a "lived in" look, but I encouraged her
to pick up after herself. As she got older we noticed that she
was not as organized as my husband and I hoped she would be. So
we decided to come up with a better way to keep her belongings in
good order.
It's mom's very nature to just go in her child's room once in
awhile to clean things up just a bit. That was the approach my
mom often took, and I won't deny that I haven't been guilty of it
myself from time to time.
I decided to "help"our daughter clean her room, because her
excuse was always that she didn't know where to put everything.
Well, that's easy enough to fix. About once a month, we
regularly went through all her clothes and toys, sorting out what
she no longer needed or wanted, to give away to friends,
charities, or to save for the annual yard sale. I have found
that when space is an issue, (which it almost always is), it is
absolutely essential to minimize the clutter.
When a child walks into a hopelessly messy bedroom, they don't
even know where to start. Make it easier for them by getting rid
of the unnecessaries. After doing this enough times, our
daughter finally started bringing me her unwanted belongings on
her own, without me constantly having to go through her things
with her. Progress. That's good!
I still often help our daughter clean her room. My husband hates
it. Yes, she is capable of cleaning her room by herself now, but
I think we honestly both enjoy the time we spend together while
doing it. I have to say, though, that minimizing the clutter has
reduced our combined effort to 15 minutes or less. Most of the
time is spent sorting through school papers she's stashed away in
every corner of her room. I've also found that the less stuff
our daughter has, the better she takes care of what she does
have.
My husband and I have laid down some ground rules that I really
think have helped our daughter think about keeping her room clean
and organized on her own.
1. No food in your bedroom. No exceptions.
2. Clean the hamster cage once a week, or no hamster. (Luckily
for the hamster she has a great deal of concern for his living
conditions).
3. Keep CD's put away or no new CD's.
4. Keep dirty clothes in the hamper or they won't get washed.
(We've made sure she only has a week's worth of most items of
clothing so she runs out quickly if the clothes don't make it
into the laundry).
The other day I caught our daughter sitting on her bedroom floor
with her socks and underwear spread around her. She was
painstakingly folding each pair and organizing them in the
drawer. "I hate it when they're all mixed up and I can't find
something!" she exclaimed. There's hope yet, I thought to
myself. I couldn't help but laugh.
Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom who is the author of
What's for Dinner?, an e-cookbook containing more than 250 quick
easy dinner ideas. For recipes, tips to organize your home, home
decorating, crafts, and frugal family fun, visit Creative
Homemaking at http://www.creativehomemaking.com and Suite 101 at
http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/creative_homemaking. To
subscribe to their monthly newsletter send a blank e-mail message
to FreeRecipes-subscribe@egroups.com.
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