The day that your child defies you, it can feel like you have failed somewhat. Perhaps you’ve worked so hard to raise your child to be polite, and have manners, but when they start to stop doing the things you ask them, it can feel like a kick in the teeth. Tidying up is one of those chores that can seem like a never-ending battle. And when your children get older, they can ignore your orders so much more. But a lot of getting your children to tidy their room is about encouraging great habits, not dishing out orders.
This is a contributed post and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Meet The Harris Family.
Make Everything Have A Place
Part of reinforcing the message that your children should tidy up is that making sure everything in your house has a place will help your children to keep things tidy and put it back after they have used it. You can find many a tip to organize your child’s closet online, but when you are trying to win the battle of tidying up, it’s about that organizational frame of mind. Reinforcing the idea that things live in specific places can help to minimize clutter, and when you start to do this at a young age it can become a learned habit. They need to know where to put things away once they’ve used them. This might be half the problem. Because if you are someone who felt that it was easier to tidy up for them, they won’t know where something goes after they’ve used it.
Define Your Expectations
Everybody has their own specific definition of what “tidy” means. And you need to know as soon as possible what the specifics are. You can break it down into simple rules that they will understand. This means making sure that your children know to make their beds as soon as they get out of it every morning, putting toys away after playtime, or throwing garbage into the garbage disposal. Breaking it down into simple guidelines will make it easier for everyone. If you are struggling to hammer the point home, you can turn it into a poster that you can keep on the refrigerator. It’s a little reminder, just in case they have lost the power of memory for the day.
Remember To Set A Good Example
A lot of parenting can feel like you’re telling your child what to do. But it’s at this point that we can get into the “because I said so” response. We need to remember that when we are encouraging our children to tidy up, the example that we set is going to be the most important lesson that our children and we will ever learn. Children are far more sensitive to what we do rather than what we say. If you want your children to adopt the same habits you need to begin taking pride in your own home. Doing the little things that help keep everything in order, and reinforcing it by setting the example can help your children to think of tidying as the norm.
It could be a never-ending battle, but tidying up doesn’t have to be an agonizing chore.
