Teaching Children To Pick Up Their Rooms

Moms everywhere unite in their fight against the toys that seem to multiple and creep into every room of their home. tThese tips are great for all ages, including the youngest children in your home.

Invest In Proper Storage: For younger kids, larger easy access storage bins are perfect. You want them to be able to open and close easily. For older children book shelves, wall shelves and specialty storage bins that match their bedroom theme are great for motivating them to pick things up. As your children age, include new or different storage methods. Under bed storage for clothing and accessories that are out of season can give more space in their closet to keep things organized. Sorting hampers in their bedrooms can help them learn how to do the laundry while keeping their room picked up. Include them in choosing their storage methods, and give them the freedom to create their own look and style.

Make It A Game: This works best for younger kids. Putting on music and creating a “clean up song” can be tons of fun for them, and get them use to putting things back in the right order. Do fun things like having them put away everything that is round, or blue, or square first. Go through different shapes, colors and types of toys and encourage them to not only pick up and put away their things, but use it to teach them classification and recognition.

Hold Them Accountable: This is especially important for the kids who continually drag toys out and don’t put them away. Hold them accountable by bagging up toys at the end of the day that have been left out. You can start with bagging them, and then holding them hostage for a week. If that doesn’t seem to teach the lesson needed, you can move on to donating or throwing away toys that are left out. Fairly soon you’ll find your kids learning to respect you and their belongings.

Helping your kids learn responsibility is one of the most important things you do as a parent. Teaching children to pick up their rooms is one of the first things you will do to show them this. By making them in charge of their own belongings at an early age, you build a foundation of continued responsibility as an adult.