Motivating Your Kids to Keep Their Bedrooms Clean

by: Dave Roth

Anyone who has kids knows that it can be hard to get them to pick up their toys, clothes, and other items. These same people also know that they want their homes to stay clean and neat, and that they must teach their children these same habits. While a parent can teach a child to pick up his or her things in common areas of the house, it is much more difficult to teach a child to pick up things in his or her own room. A child often feels like a room is personal space, and there should be no need to keep it as neat as a parent desires. He or she should be able to keep a room however the child wants to. Some parents allow this, at least up to a point, but for parents that think this is a bad idea, there are steps that can be taken to motivate kids to keep their areas clean and free of too much clutter.

One of the best ways to motivate kids is praise. Threatening them with punishment for something done wrong does not work as well as praising them for something that they did right. Sometimes, punishment is necessary, but praise for good decisions and actions often works better as a first choice. Praising children can keep them motivated to pick up their messes and keep their rooms and play areas clean. This is especially true of young children, as they are often very interested in earning their parents praise and respect.

Another way to motivate older children is with money. By this it is not meant that one should bribe children, but offering children an allowance for chores and making part of those chores the cleanliness of their rooms and play areas is certainly common practice today. There are people who argue that it is never appropriate to reward children with money, but children often receive an allowance, and they must learn the value of money and how to handle it at some point in time. An allowance should be appropriate to the childs age and the work that the child performs, and if the work is not done, the money should be withheld. By doing this, and by praising a child for things done correctly, a kid can be motivated to keep his or her areas clean.