How can I get my 5 year old to clean her room and keep it clean daily?

Question

My 5 year old daughter hates to clean her room. She is even willing to clean up any other part of the house rather than clean her own room. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Well your goals of keeping it clean daily may be a bit lofty...you will stress out! Just pick a time of day where she has the most energy to tidy up and one day a week to completely do the over haul. You may be putting to much pressure on her if you expect her to keep it clean all day everyday, most adults don't do that and we most likely don't spend half the time in our rooms that 5 year olds do! Just make sure she is not eating or drinking in her room and there are no things lying around that could potentially harm her. Another thing to keep in mind is that (if she has a window) teach her that when it's time to tidy and clean mommy will come in and open the window. We want to make sure that the birds or the angels or some other imaginary or playful being that you come up with doesn't see a messy room!
Remeber, at that age she is gaining here independence and expressing herself in a lot of ways. 5 year olds have a lot going on in their heads. The result of this time in her life may be a messy room. This is better than a lot of the alternatives (like temper tantrums and bed wetting)
The best thing about the situation is that she has a room...when you just cant take looking at it anymore, CLOSE THE DOOR! lol

Answer 2

I really liked some of the other responses, which included the use of bins, choices, etc. I think another key may be giving your daughter a concrete meaning to the word "clean." She may think that being able to walk through the room and find her favorite doll is "clean." And maybe this is a reason that she would rather do other chores: they may be easier to understand your expectation.

Cleaning with her at first would be helpful but, obviously, you want to be able to move on to other things while she cleans her own room. You may consider an interactive picture schedule: make pictures which represent each aspect of the cleaning process, and velcro them onto a strip from left to right, in the order she should complete them. For example--> make bed, put toys in bin, put books on shelf, put clothes in drawer...Put an envelope or something under the strip, so she can remove each picture as it is finished. Then you can replace them later, Or, if the order doesn't matter, she can replace them herself the next time she cleans. A great way to build in motivation is to end the schedule with some super reinforcer, which can change based on what she is interested in at the time. You may even put two or three pictures at the end (in a column), representing things she can choose from when her room is clean--> ice cream, 1/2 hour of TV, a trip to the park (whatever you feel is appropriate).

Don't let anyone tell you that your expectations are too high (at least not in this case). Our children learn what we teach. Yes, at first, you will have to help her often, and may want to reduce to one or two cleanings a week. But when she is doing that well, start fading yourself out, and expect her to do it more often. Eventually, you will be able to send her up to clean her room everyday. And with any luck at all, she will start keeping it clean.

Better to start teaching this skill while she is young, than waiting until she is a teenager....!

Answer 3

You are not asking to much and it is good to teach a 5 year old some responsibility. And you cant buy her something every time she cleans it or you will be at the store constantly and you will go broke.. Put a sticker board or something of the sort on your daughters wall and tell her that every night before bed, (or whatever time is good for you) if her room is clean she will get a star (kids at that age need to visualize the reward and they all love stickers) when she has 10 stars she will get a reward... a toy, going out for ice cream etc. This will teach her to work towards something, it will give her something to look forward to and seeing the "score card" will always remind her without you having to ask her. You can even go as far as taking away stickers when her room is not clean but all the details are up to you.. good luck

Answer 4

You have been given some great ideas. She is old enough to be taking care of her things. Try helping her at first and when the room is clean tell her how pretty her room looks when it is neet. You may try the golden star chart for a child of this age. When the room is cleaned a golden star goes up on the chart and when it is messy a frowny face goes up. You could tell her that if she doesn't want to take care of her things there are many poor children that would just love to have them and that you will give them away if they are not looked after. You will have to do this if she does not pick up after herself but she will soon get the idea and it will not take long if you do not replace them. If she wants a new toy or cloths and the room it not picked up you could tell her that she is not old enough to take care of the things she has and until she is she can't have any more. Children always want to be old enough for everything and will do almost anything to be old enough if there is a way. Hope some of this helps.

Answer 5

Well as a 5 year old she is going to try to get away with not doing something (like cleaning her room) simply because you want her to. You need to make sure you don't let her win this battle. If her room has an organized layout and she knows where eveything goes then she is not to young to clean her room up. Make any neccesary changes so that she has a specific place to put everything. When you tell her to clean her room and she refuses simply do not allow her to do anything else (except maybe potty, eat and sleep) until it gets done. If you stick to your rules she will soon learn that what Momma says goes and it is in her best interest to listen and obey.

Answer 6

Clean with her. Show her how easy it is and how fast it is to clean up one mess at a time, rather than a whole messy room.

We start with the clothes, then the dolls, then the tea sets and so on, until the room is clean. My daughter sees it getting cleaner and feels very proud of herself after we are done.

I like the answer about storage too. That's the best way to keep it clean. Have a place for everything and eventually she will learn to put everything in it's place.

Good luck!

Answer 7

My 5-year old daughter doesn't like to clean her room, either, and I do try to be reasonable because-hey-she is only 5. Still, when she's trashed it to the point that I can't even walk in there, she's gonna pick that stuff up. If she refuses, then she starts to lose privileges like watching tv or playing video games. Some people might think that's harsh but you have to consider the intelligence of the child, not just their chronological age.

Answer 8

Mind games are lovely at this age, huh? lol I dont know how much you will be able to get her to "clean" her room. I assume you mean picking up toys and crafts and putting them away, type of thing?

You will have to start regulating the usage of toys. It is soooo fun too. :| But it will pay off...trust me. Get one of those fangled door locks to place at your arms length toward the top of a closet door. All toys go in here! No room?? Make room! I was desperate, I did it.

When she wants a toy or craft you give her a limit before unlocking the door. For instance: You tell her she may have 3 toys...you unlock...she goes in and gets 3 and you lock again. This prevents all of her toy supply from being strewn over the whole floor. Make it a point to tell her that when she is done playing that she finds you and you will put the toys away "together". In other words: You unlock the door...help her with the big stuff (ex: toy houses like a barbie house.) and she puts away the small stuff. Door gets locked again after she either decides she wants different toys or goes off to do something else.

This has worked fabulously for me! Also, rubbermaid big storage containers are great for sepparating their toys...they keep them neat, in the closet :), and it also teaches the art of organization. For example: Barbies go in the barbie box, Littlest Pet Shop stuff goes in The Littlest Pet shop box. I hope this helps!

Answer 9

You should start a daily schedule with her. Make cleaning fun! Help her clean her room. Talk to each other while doing this. Play a 'I Spy' game with her while you are helping her clean her room. Make cleaning fun, instead of just a chore. Eventually, she won't need you there when she cleans. She will do it on her own. I hope this helped!

Answer 10

My son was like this, we got him this awesome "chore chart" for his 6th birthday from target.com. It has a bunch of different magnets that you pick the chores for the week from, and then "reward" magnets to go along with them for each day of the week that the particular chore is completed. He got so excited about putting a dang magnet on the chart that it was no problem to get him to pick up (or set the table, or do his homework, or brush his teeth, which are some of the other choices available). There are even 3 or 4 blank "chore" magnets that you can write your own stuff on. It's way cool. Just go to target.com and type in chore chart in the search box, it'll come right up. It's like, $20 or something.