If so, how neat does it have to be?

Are their beds made daily?

Vaccuum/sweep the floor- how often?

Any toys on the floor?

What is the punishment for failing to do their room?

Amy

My boys are 4.5YO and 5.5YO. We help them clean their room every night before they go to bed. We believe that helping them teaches them that everyone pitches in around the house, even if they didn't make the mess.

We suggest that they put things away before getting out something new, but we're not always right there to supervise. Occasionally I will ask them to clean up a specific toy (ie. Legos) before we do something, like go to the park. For the most part I jsut ignore it until evening.

We don't make their beds. They like blankets on top of them at night but they aren't tucked in under the mattress; we don't use top sheets. If someone is coming over I might fold their blankets for them.

My housecleaner sweeps and mops their floor weekly.

There is no punishment per set, but they can lose a privilege if they don't help during the night time clean up. Usually it means they can't watch their 30 minutes of TV.

Peace,

Kimberly

My kids are not forced to keep their rooms clean. They are not allowed to eat in there or keep things that might be unsanitary.

I try to model good behavior and we work on keeping it neat together.

I would not punish a child for not keeping his space clean. All I have to do is look at my own space and I know exactly why they aren't the neatest kids. :D

I try. IMO it is practice for adult life. If they can get used to being a little more organized and putting things away, they'll be a lot better off as an adult, and make a much better spouse, too! :) We are not perfect, but the kids rooms are a lot better lately. Part of the prob for Kacey was too much stuff, so I just boxed everything up that was on the floor and took it down to the basement. SHe has a lot easier time with her room now. We are going to go through a box every week or so, weed out and discuss where the keeper stuff belongs so that it's easy for her to maintain her room. Mollusc isn't such a clothes horse and mostly keeps her collections under decent control, though her books can get unruly at times. :) Gordo just doesn't have a lot in his room, and Dags shares our room. I don't have a punishment for non-cleanliness. There are just certain things expected before they can get on with the day - bed made and floor picked up. Every now and then we haul the vac up the stairs and do the floors.

YES

If so, how neat does it have to be?
Everything has to be where it belongs

Are their beds made daily?
Yes, by someone, sometimes that is done by me but usually them

Vaccuum/sweep the floor- how often?
Our vac is broke now, but when it was working, my oldest dd vacumed her room at least every other day- she wanted to
Sweep, I usually do that every day

Any toys on the floor?
no

What is the punishment for failing to do their room?
I let them play all day, but before bed or we go anywhere, they have to clean up
If they do not clean up, items go to goodwill
(Now I know we all have 'off' days, but if someone is a repeat offender here, good bye toy)

My kids are 9, 5, and 4 and have been responsible for their own things since they could pick up a toy and stick it in a basket


Hope

ds has a place for all of his toys. He's expected to put each toy away before he gets another one out. Sometimes I slack on that rule and then I just ask him to clean everything up before he takes a nap or while I'm making lunch and then again when daddy is on his way home from work.
His bed is always made and he just sleeps on top of the comforter with his own special blanket so no need to make his bed every day (i hate making beds)
He's too young to vacuum his own floor so we do that for him. He is responsible for making sure there are no dirty clothes on the floor though.
If he doesn't clean his room his punishment is usually he's not allowed to play with toys for the rest of the night. Nothing too bad but he gets the point.
much love
-Lindsey

my girls share a room, they are 5 1/2 and almost 8. their room doesnt have to be perfect, but they do keep it neat. they put toys away when they are done playing, before bed we make sure things are put where they go. its just a routine we have always done - keeping our home reasonably neat.

about once a month or so i go in and help them re-organize and sort their toys, make sure trash is thrown away, etc...to make it easier to take care of throughout the month.

the girls like to vaccuum so they take turns vaccuuming on the weekend.

between dh & i working and the girls in school, we dont have alot of time to spend on cleaning so we just keep up with it a few minutes a night and that keeps it from becomming a big chore.

If so, how neat does it have to be?

Neat enough. No crap on the floors, stuff not randomly shoved into drawers and shelves.

Are their beds made daily?

Yes.

Vaccuum/sweep the floor- how often?

I do that. Once a week. We have a no-shoes policy so her floor doesn't get that dirty.

Any toys on the floor?

No, that is what the living/play room is for.

What is the punishment for failing to do their room?

None, but it can't be fun to hear me and dh nagging all the time!

Eh... since I have a 2.9 yo old and a 4.3 yo old, take my advice fwiw. I don't stress about cleanliness, I just help my guys know where everything belongs. I help with cleanup with a happy face (thanks to my meds, lol) and sing the "there's a place for everything, and everything in it's place" song. If they don't help, I don't stress, but am "too tired because of having to clean up by myself" though I try not to overdramatize and still can do other things (really, it's not an act, because often I am, thanks to RA). I am hoping in time, this will help the cleanup problem. So far, so good, but I really try hard not to lord the guilt factor over them.
Carrie
Eta: We have the no food upstairs, nor anything messy rule, too.

"Make"? Hmmm...not 'make' lol. I have never punished my kids for anything . (Well, I did take the computer priv away for a week once). We help them, but we do have expectations that we will respect each other-- we have 4 bedrooms, but one is a playroom, so my 4 children share two rooms. It has to be kept in a semblance of order so items can be found and all sibs are happy. None of my kids are too sloppy, so we have not had too many issues. If it's crazy, we just go in and help. I don't think it's reasonable to expect children to kept things tidy completely on their own.

Plus, I don't think most organiziational abilities are inborn. I think kids have to be aided in organizing and they have to care whether toys, books, school supplies etc can be found. So far, all of my kids have that investment.

Originally posted by amyorama
If so, how neat does it have to be?

Pretty neat
Are their beds made daily?

no

Vaccuum/sweep the floor- how often?

dh does

Any toys on the floor?

all the time!


What is the punishment for failing to do their room?

They have to live/play in there. It's a natural consequence imo that if their room is messy then they don't have room to play. When they say "there's no room to play" I remind them if they picked stuff up they would have room.
I help them get it really clean about once a week.


Amy [/B]

i agree with mamax4. I don't 'make' my kids do things. Nor do i 'punish' them.

My daughter is 15 and i'm not sure how to "make" her clean her room. lol

i do ask her to make her bed before school. She generally complies.

She knows her room as to be clean in order for her to have friends over or to go to a friends house. Once a week she is asked to pick up her floor, bring out her laundry basket and dust and vaccuum. She does it because she's always done it. But other then her once a week - the room is generally referred to as "the pit". She has, in the past three months , realized that the more often she picks up her room, the less time her once a week cleaning takes her. (imagine that... lol)

Once every six months i go into her room with her and purge and supervise her redoing her drawers and closets.

my 4 1/2 yo picks up toys every morning and every night before bed. She fixes her blanket and helps me iwth her brothers blanket in the mornings.

but theres no "go clean your room" and then " you didn't clean your room so no tv for a week" if thats what you mean.

I also am big on helping clean . My teen hates this. I always offer tho... "well, i can come in and do it with you if you'd like" is always met with "no no . thats ok. i'll do it". cuz she knows i toss stuff when i clean ;)

my 4.5yo loves when i help her clean tho. She's getting very good with the vaccuum too :)

Originally posted by Mamax4
"Make"? Hmmm...not 'make' lol. I have never punished my kids for anything . (Well, I did take the computer priv away for a week once). We help them, but we do have expectations that we will respect each other-- we have 4 bedrooms, but one is a playroom, so my 4 children share two rooms. It has to be kept in a semblance of order so items can be found and all sibs are happy. None of my kids are too sloppy, so we have not had too many issues. If it's crazy, we just go in and help. I don't think it's reasonable to expect children to kept things tidy completely on their own.

Plus, I don't think most organiziational abilities are inborn. I think kids have to be aided in organizing and they have to care whether toys, books, school supplies etc can be found. So far, all of my kids have that investment.

I wrote above, but just add my ditto to this one. :)

My response, too, was how would I "make" them?

Mine are little though. For my 3 1/2 year old I just ask him to help me, to participate in chores and cleaning.

We have a general rule that you put away a toy before you take another out. I remind them sometimes.

If he says, it's too much mess for me, I narrow the task for him -- just do the dinosaurs. I clean while he's doing that. Then when he's done I say, how about the couting beads. He'll usually say okay. I'm also very conscious of making sure things have real places to be put away and that there aren't too many clothes, blankets, or toys in his space.

I don't "punish" him for much, if anything. Some choices have consequences -- we dont' take out games that he didn't help pick up last time. But if he asks for another chance, I would always give him one. I think having a messy room is punishment enough. I think when you find you are capable of caring for things, and you do, there is so much pride in that. "Owning" your space and the feeling of caring for your things is sooo much better than feeling forced to do it, then you can never do it and feel relaxed and satisfied, you just feel obligated and dominated. At 31, I still hate to do the things my mother "forced" me to do.

Astoria

Originally posted by ThirtySomething
My kids are not forced to keep their rooms clean. They are not allowed to eat in there or keep things that might be unsanitary.

I try to model good behavior and we work on keeping it neat together.

I would not punish a child for not keeping his space clean. All I have to do is look at my own space and I know exactly why they aren't the neatest kids. :D

:ditto: my bedroom is far from clean. :o