Tidy-up steps

1. Place all the dirty clothes in a laundry basket. Encourage your child to help. Sing cleaning hymns, race against a timer or toss clothes into fun laundry baskets like basketball hoop. Set a timer and make a game of putting the items in the appropriate places around the house to make cleaning your child’s room more fun.

2. Place all books on book shelves and toys in designated containers such as toy boxes, bins or baskets. Provide enough book shelves for books or toy boxes, bins, crates or baskets for toys, to make it easier to keep the room clean.

3. Make the bed, nothing makes a room look neater than a made bed since it covers a large surface area of any bedroom. Fluff the pillows and pull a duvet, blanket, cover or comforter over the bed. Teach children how to make the bed or help you. Keep it simple.

4. Sweep, mop or vacuum as needed-considering the type of flooring in your child’s room. Depending on the child, this might only need to be done once or twice a week.

5. Go through clothes, toys and books to find a bunch to donate or discard on a monthly basis. Allow your children to participate in reducing clutter and getting rid of things they have outgrown, broken or stained.

6. Clean bed sheets, blinds or curtains, windows and window sills on a weekly basis. This will help reduce dust, potential allergies and indoor air pollution. Open windows when using cleaning products so it will not be trapped in the bedroom air and linger as indoor air pollution.

Making him take part
Human beings respond well to praise, more so children. That is why training them and then rewarding them for their good performance is important. Note that the rewards do not have to be in form of money or sweets. A warm hug, high-five, smile and ‘well done’ also do the trick.

1. Teach and make your child to put away toys, games, clothes, books or art supplies after play.
2. Provide a progress chart with stickers for smaller children. A chart that receives checks can also be used for older children; these can easily be made with Excel or another computer programme.
3. Give rewards to your child after making the room clean. Verbally communicate the benefits of cleaning their room and write down the rules. For instance, children cannot go outside to play or talk on the phone until the room is clean and inspected.
4. Use ample, appropriate and clearly marked storage devices for the child’s clothing, shoes, books, toys and games.
5. Consider marking the drawers or shelves with labels (underwear, shirts and pants) for easy accessibility. Use storage bins under the bed with wheels to store board games or off season clothes. You could also install a shelf above the normal one in the closet for additional storage.
6. Catch the child putting their toys, clothes or games away and compliment him or her on a job well done. Positive attention will encourage the child to repeat the behaviour.
7. Use boxes to store photos, small toys, small board boxes, CDs, DVDs or movies. Designate a space for the boxes, for example on bookshelves or closet shelves. Children can handle them easily and they sure reduce clutter.

END: BL 38/16-17