Do you struggle with kids cleaning up after they have played with toys and other messy things?

I do! I do admit that I end up yelling and I hate that so in an effort to stop that I have done the following:

• I have tried reward systems and they don’t work very well. However I have noted that if I make it a competition it appeals to my competitive twins, they both get energised and work harder.

The mess gets put away quite quickly but sometimes it is just dumped in their bedroom, on the floor or on their beds. Not ideal. I have had a chat about places to put things and all things need to go back where they came.

Things are getting better, however with the competition idea it sometimes backfires. This is due to a kid saying that they are winning and the other child gets upset and cries and then does not do anything. So the competitive aspect is not ideal either.

• I have also tried putting on music and saying that we will tidy up to the music for a time limit and after the music is off it should all be done, this works a little bit but the twins love dancing and think it is fun and games when the music goes on.

What are your brilliant ideas to make sure your kids tidy up their mess? Maybe I have given you some great ideas or not. Is there something that works well in your house? Planning with Kids has some great ideas for getting kids to organise themselves.

A great article that can help with this issue is Susan Stiffelman’s article, “8 Ways to teach your kids to clean up“, the one that I like the most is making it a game; how many toys can you collect and put away in a certain time frame. Just brilliant.

If you have a great idea, please share so that we can all have tidier and happier houses.