How to Get Your Child to Clean Their Bedroom

UK parents have spent a staggering £43.9 billion ‘kitting out’ their children’s bedrooms. With one child’s room alone worth an estimated £3,165, how do parents make sure their kids are cleaning their room? Most of us can agree that cleaning isn’t the most exciting of tasks, and for kids who aren’t house-proud, seeing the point in tidying can sometimes be hard. Letting their room become a mess isn’t an option though! If you’re struggling to get your child to clean their room, here are some tips that might help get their rooms spick and span. Explain why “Just because” is never a good way to get a child to do something – kids are inquisitive and constantly learning, so if they’re shown why something has to be done they’ll be more likely to do it in the first place. Let them know that it’s always good to take care of our possessions and that extends to their house, and that dirty rooms breed pests and yucky bacteria. If they keep losing their toys (or standing on them and breaking them by mistake) then tell them that it simply wouldn’t happen if they put them on a shelf or in a toy box where they belong. With more and more children owning expensive tech and gadgets, it's extremely important that they understand the value of their belongings and how to properly look after them.   Explain what Just so there’s no room for them to weasel out of the job later on, clearly tell them what a clean room means – a made bed, clothes hung up or in a laundry basket, toys away, floor vacuumed and surfaces quickly wiped, for instance. Also, let them know that cleaning their room is important from a health and safety point of view. Horrible, mouldy plates and smelly clothes everywhere will make the room unpleasant, and might even make your child sick. Show them how Especially with younger kids, it pays to help them out and show them what to do – we all need to learn how to tidy up somewhere, after all. Show them how to check through clothes on their floor and either put them away or in the washing basket, and what actually constitutes a clean room. Part of this is setting a good example by cleaning your own room and encouraging a clean and tidy house as well. If you don’t do it, why should a child think they should? Make them do it While your kid might become argumentative or refuse to clean their room, don’t just give in and clean it yourself. Doing so will undermine your authority and show your child that they don’t have to do what you say, which could lead to a whole host of other problems, not just a complete lack of motivation in completing their chores. Break it up One of the best ways to do any job is to break it up into bite-sized tasks, and the same goes for cleaning a room. Separate the job into tasks like putting clothes away, tidying away toys, wiping surfaces and so forth, and if there are lots of them, spread them out over a day or two so the whole job doesn’t seem as huge. Doing this is also good because it teaches kids a great way of approaching any task, including big tasks and projects at school. Have them focus on one area of their bedroom at a time so that they don't feel overwhelmed. Tidying up their clothes is a great place to start as clothes are often taken for granted by children, as they're more practical than fun, but this will help to teach them to value of what's in their wardrobe.   Provide consequences If they really won’t do it, then you might have to introduce a punishment, and the easiest way to do this is to say, when you first announce the task, that if they don’t do it then they can’t do something they want to do – play video games or go out playing, for example. Doing this the first few times will nudge them to routinely do the task, without you asking. Do it quickly One of the reasons your child won’t want to clean their room is because doing so can take a fair bit of time. The answer? Make it fast. Tell them to make their bed as fast as possible, gather all their clothes off the floor and put them on their bed, then get all the toys and put them away in containers or boxes. When there’s nothing but rubbish left, pop all that in a bin bag, sort through the clothes on the bed, and within ten minutes the job’s a good’un! With younger children, you could even turn it into a race – although that dirty trick probably won’t fly with older kids. Give them pride of place As us adults know, when you put a lot of time and effort into making your home look nice, you naturally have the urge to keep it clean. To give your children the same feeling, let them take control of aspects of their room decoration and décor. If they need a new bed or chest of drawers, involve them in the picking process (setting budgets, obviously!) and if the room could do with redecoration, let them pick they colours they’d like it painting, pictures they’d want hanging on the wall and so forth. Get rid of clutter Showing your child that clutter is bad early on will help make the cleaning easier in the long run, as well as keep them from developing a tendency to hoard things. Instead go through their stuff together every few months or so, taking all of the old toys, games and clothes to a car boot sale – let them keep the cash and they’ll have an incentive to get rid! Children generally stop playing with their toys around the age of 10 so there's no doubt that you'll find a couple of boxes of old toys stored away somewhere that could help them make a bit of money. No one wants to live in a messy house, and the same goes for kids’ rooms – hopefully with the tips above, you’ll be able to walk past their bedroom without getting a shock. Having a clean room is a big part of making sure a child sleeps well. Click here to find out more about creating a space where sleep comes easy to your child.