Ask any parent the cause of their home clutter. Their near-universal answer: the children. Children have a unique gift for leaving a path of disaster in their wake. And just as universal is a child’s hatred of cleaning up.
Too often pleas to clean up fall on deaf ears. Ask a child sitting right next to you to clean up his or her mess and you might very well be ignored. Whisper that you’re thinking about taking the family out for ice cream and that same child will come running from six rooms and two floors away. Selectively permeable hearing.
Requests for children to spend time tidying up or decluttering can devolve into a shouting match with tears flowing and threats of punishment flying. And if the work gets done, chances are everyone leaves a little unhappier. But it doesn’t have to be that way!
Whether it’s cleaning a room or cleaning out the house there are some strategies for getting kids to participate in the process. Here's a look at six strategies to make the process more palatable for both the parents and the children.