Kids Room Tips - chore ideas for my kids/how to keep their room clean?

chore ideas for my kids/how to keep their room clean?

i have a six year old girl and a four year old boy. i'm a single mom, and any help they can contribute will not only be good for them, but helpful to me too. my girl is able to do chores, but does not have any regular responsibilities (other than homework). my four year old boy is pretty resistant to pitching in around the house. what are some chores and ideas to get my kids motivated to help out? how do you get your kids to keep their room clean? do you give them incentives or is it the law of the land? i'll take any ideas you've got! please no more inconsiderate answers about my marital status...maybe they should be directed towards the fathers that abandon families...

Public Comments

maybe tell them you'll give them something they dont get often. like a certain type of food, or a place you go that they love, but you cant always go. buy them a toy or something!!
try turning on some fun music and set a day of the week that you all pitch in and get the house clean together! and or make a fun colorful chart with certiain duties that each of them must do and when they finnish it they get a small reward of some kind. somthing special!
im 17 and my parents are very strict. they always told me if i didnt do it then i wouldnt be able to go anywhere. i wouldnt be able to see my friends until its clean. as for your little boy. tell him he has to sit at the table until he cleans it. it wont take him too long before he does it. dont bribe them though because then they will expect it all the time. just be strict. but not rediculous
nice, another single mother
I have taught my daughter to clean up after herself since she was old enough to make a mess. If she can pull toys out of a toy box, she can put them back in. It just takes patience and training. She's 21 months old now, and has been doing the chores with me since she was probably 15 months or so. She stands on a chair at the counter to help me cook and do the dishes. She gets a scrub brush and cleans the tub when we shower in the morning. She pushes the detergent to the laundry room when we do the clothes. She gets a rag and dusts. She picks up trash and throws it away when she sees it. When she's older, I'll delegate a certain task that will be hers as long as she lives with us. Same with our second child. That way they will feel needed and see how if the task doesn't get done the whole organization of our daily life gets out of order. You need to train your kids to help out, delegate certain tasks to them, and expect them to do it. It would have been easier for you if you had expected them to do chores as young toddlers because work wouldn't be a chore, just another typical daily task. So now that you haven't done that, you have to start from the point of resistant children who aren't used to being expected to help out. And you'll have to do it by cheerfully expecting them to help you out. Don't make chores out to be undesireable work through your attitude. Make doing chores a fun way to be together as a family. Delegate a particular task to each child (within their capabilities) that is theirs from now on. Show them how they're needed now, and that if they don't do their job the rest of the family loses out. They'll feel part of the team. We don't do incentives or rewards. Feeling a sense of being needed is enough for our family. We see that when a family member doesn't pull his or her share in the team that life becomes disorganized. So we all have a necessary part to running our household.
Make it a game. Set a timer and say if we can get these chores done in 30 minutes then you get a sticker (reward charts work very well) or a piece of candy. Do not give them to much to do at once or they will feel overwhelmed, so little by little. Once they get older you can give them an allowance, because in the future they will have to work to earn things, so if they do chores they will earn a certain amount of money to buy their own things.
First, help them clean their rooms. Tell them that if they pick up after themselves (putting toys away when their done, keeping clothes and other things off of the floor, etc.) and keep the room clean, then at the end of the week you'll reward them for being a good little boy and girl. Promising them you'll take them to the park or that you'll get them a small gift, make their favorite food, have a friend over, play a game they like or something else that they enjoy doing.
My daughter is 6 and my son is 2 and she cleans her room once a week....just the rules, but both pick up toys before bedtime....and always have so it is routine now. But maybe make a game of it.....a race or something. And to hedrushn....your an idiot! If these men would "man up" and take care of their children, there would not be so many single mothers-until you walk in someones shoes ....mind your own business!
you should say "if you get your room nice and clean with no complaining we can go somewhere special." then you keep your promise if they do clean there rooms but if they dont then "you can say im sorry but we cant go today because you didnt clean your room." but if you have two children and one doesnt clean there room just say "im sorry but sence you didnt clean your room none of us can go some where special." you go Luv my little ones, your totaly right. once a couple that isnt married or engaged the men usally leave becaue of course the women cant leave the baby sence its in side her
my daughter is 4 and her chore is she has to make her bed, which consists of spreading her blanket out :) its really not that hard, if its really bad i will help her. then she has to take all her stuffed animals and put them on her bed. she has to do this everyday. and before bed she has to pick up all the toys off the floor. and any of her dirty clothes she puts in the hampers herself. i think for 4 this is enough, i mean she has to clean up after herself but as for unloading dishwasher or cleaning bathroom i think thats to much. just make sure they pick up their own toys so you don't have to do it, and keep the toys off of their floor at everynight. as for your marital status, people can be so cruel they dot know your situation at all. my daughters dad left her when she was 6 weeks, and people looked down on ME for it.
as far as the cleaning their room, its the law of the land, its their room not mine, so im not cleaning it. i change the sheets on the bed and sweep the floor but thats it. if at the end of the day come bed time there is something in the floor it goes in mamas closet and they dont get it back until i say so. i have 3 kids a boy 5yr. and a girl 3 yr. and they know how to clean their rooms right or toys come up missing. i have another girl shes 1yr. and even she picks up the toys in her room shes pretty goodat it too for such a young child. the chores r simple ones both the older children get the drty laundry and pick up things around the house putting them where they belong.they r both pretty good about helping out.
I bought my son a "Responsibilty Chart" (I think it's made by Melissa and Doug, but you could certainly make one of your own) that has different magnets with all kinds of different responsibilities, from feeding the pets to helping Mom around the house to setting the table, no fighting, cleaning your room, etc. There are also some blank magnets that you can use if there are specific things you want to work on. We change the magnets every week and select the various chores/behavior issues I think need to be focused on, and at the end of each day, we sit down together and talk about what magnets he has earned for the day. By the end of the week, if he has done a good job in all of the areas, he earns a special treat (nothing big--just a car, a trip to Bruster's for an ice cream, or something like that). Just make sure that you are choosing chores that are age-appropriate for them. Both children should be able to pick up their own toys, for example, but the four year-old might need a hand making his bed.