Kids room cleanup

[miTunes75]

My wife and I are fixing to go into the kids room and clean it out. LIterally. We have lots of trash bags ready. Between us and their grandma, they have lots and lots of toys, dolls, etc. What do they do all day? Look at books, coloring/"writing" in spiral notebooks, crayons, markers and pens. The boy like messing with his hotwheels sometimes and the girl likes her build-a-bear stuff ... and makeup.

No matter how many times we clean up the room, they end up trashing it anyway, not caring about their stuff. THey are a little young, yes, (3 and 4) but they trash their room for a day just because and play with their normal stuff mentioned above.

Do any or your kids do this also?

 

[arkitect]

Remove everything and see if they can behave in a bare white room…
Then gradually introduce a toy or two…

Familiarity breeds contempt.

Not that I have any children, so I have no idea what I am talking about.
But still, seems like good advice.

 

[GfPQqmcRKUvP]

My room was never that clean, and do you expect 3 year olds to be keeping a perfectly sterile room with nothing on the floor? When I got older I started caring how my room looked and I started to pick stuff up myself, so I don't think that's the problem. Personally, I'd just try to teach them to value what they have and to take care of it. Sorry this wasn't much help, but as a side note, hotwheels are awesome.

 

[smokeyrabbit]

Our 6 & 4 year olds have to keep their floor picked up every day. We also had to stop the grandparents from getting more toys since we don't have unlimited storage space. They usually take about 5-10 minutes before we get home to pick up. They also have to clean up their stuff from the rest of the house so the baby doesn't eat it. It takes supervision, but they are definitely capable of cleaning up after themselves at that age.

 

[vanmacguy]

Have them clean their own room up before you let them engage in an enjoyable activity. My kids have to clean up the family room before we let them watch a movie.

But you have to stick to your promise though. If they don't clean, no movie (or whatever activity you choose) despite all the wailing and crying.

That's where allowance or pocket money is handy. No clean up, no allowance.

Eventually they'll learn.

Cheers.

 

[Raid]

Do any or your kids do this also?

I have 3 nieces and 1 nephew about the same age, and from your limited description of what's going on I don't think it's beyond normal.

The problem might be consistently of expectations, and learning to respect their toys. Since they are only 3 and 4 you really must drill it into them that if they play with their toys, they must put them away before playing with something else.

You can make it a game with them to see how fast they can put the toys away or (a more popular game in my family) is to see how many toys they can carry to the toy box or shelf.

As far as respect for toys goes, if they are playing inappropriately with the toy (i.e. wrecking the toy, damaging furniture or walls) you tell them that it's not the way to play with them, and warn them that the toy will be taken away for the day if they do it again.

Being 3 and 4 they are going to test those boundaries so you have to follow through with the warning, otherwise they'll learn that they don't have to listen.

 

[GfPQqmcRKUvP]

Guys, these kids are 3, and 4. They're not self-sufficient. While I agree it would be helpful if you had them put their toys back in a bin after using them, it doesn't really make a big different in the long run. Much more important than being anal about a room being clean (is your office perfectly clean and organized?) is teaching them to take care of their stuff, treat others well, and not be annoying crybabies.

 

[Mr.Noisy]

My daughters 3, and when her friends come over to play, it's like hell on earth, i find wax crayons, plastic knives & forks from her play kitchen and all sorts of cr@p for weeks after the invasion, it's great on nice days, they can go in the garden. But why must they empty every box or bag in her room onto the floor?? ok she does help put it all away, But the worst thing is when they decide to draw tattoo's on each other, they get ink on their faces, necks, arms, bellys, just about everywhere, making bathtime hell for her, But at least when she's asleep she's just an angel again

a bit of tidying up's a small price to pay to see your kids happy

 

[Daveman Deluxe]

Between us and their grandma, they have lots and lots of toys, dolls, etc. What do they do all day? Look at books, coloring/"writing" in spiral notebooks, crayons, markers and pens. The boy like messing with his hotwheels sometimes and the girl likes her build-a-bear stuff ... and makeup.

I agree with all of the above posters re discipline being the key thing. If you make it clear that your children will not be allowed to play until their rooms are clean, then follow through on your word, then they will quickly learn to clean their rooms in order to play.

I also want to say that if I had children who spent all day looking at books, coloring, and generally not wishing for/playing with the latest-and-greatest electronic toy, I would be THRILLED. Most of the young children of my friends at church are like what you described--they like their stuffed animals and their coloring books, but they haven't got action figures or video games. They're also some of the most intelligent, curious, creative, and well-behaved children I have ever met. I don't think that it's a coincidence.

EDIT: Oh, and their DINOSAURS! Damn, do I miss playing with dinosaurs when I was five.

 

[themadchemist]

A lesson I never learned. But as for the boy, when he's off at college and suspects that a girl might see his room, he'll clean up so as not to look like a slob. At least, that's the pattern I've noticed in myself. I occasionally clean up my apartment because it's too much of a disarray even for me; more frequently than that, the prospect of friends coming over (including guys) prompts me to clean; and then the thought that a girl will be here, well, that's a big motivation. Now that I'm dating someone, my apartment is much cleaner more frequently.

That's completely non sequitur and totally unhelpful, but I thought I'd share.

 

[miTunes75]

Well, it worked out well. The wife and I explained to them that we are going to make their rooom fun for them to keep clean. Which we have never done before, we explained to them why they have their bins at the foot of their bins. If they want to keep something, place it in a bin, otherwise, we're throwing it away. They quickly got to work with us...and to be honest, they were very selective on what they wanted to keep and not and they chose to get rid of a lot of stuff. None of the items were surprising, they didn't play with them anyway. They were very proud of themselves when we were done with everything.

It was a great afternoon.

 

[flyfish29]

Sounds like it went well- what we do with our 4 and 6 year old is limit what toys we can have "out" at any one time. We have three things for each child downstairs in some bins. In each of their rooms they have three more types of toys "out". Usually we have two larger toys and one smaller one. ie. legos, thomas train and tool set. All the rest of their toys get packed up under their beds and their closets. Then we rotate the toys between the closet and underbed boxes and the two "out" locations which are their bedrooms and downstairs by the TV.

Forgot to say but the biggest benefit to this is there are so many toys they can have spread out across the room. that being said, they manage to spread out every one of those toys to make a complete mess. Oh well, it eventually gets put back in it's place.

 

[Iscariot]

 

[Raid]

They quickly got to work with us...and to be honest, they were very selective on what they wanted to keep and not and they chose to get rid of a lot of stuff. None of the items were surprising, they didn't play with them anyway. They were very proud of themselves when we were done with everything.

It was a great afternoon.

That's good news, it sounds like they got into it. What are you doing with the toys that they don't want? It might set another good example to take the 'still ok' ones to a charity. You can explain to them that other children might want to play with them and by giving them away they are sharing the toy with others.