Why do little 3 yearolds cry so much when they have to clean up? It drives me nuts!?

Question

My niece is a 3 year old. Every time I give her some puzzlez she plays and makes a good mess. Now when it is time to clean up she doesn't want to. she tells me her hands hurts! What should I do? If I put her in time out she just gets out and starts playing with the puzzlez! Help! :(

Answer 1

It just seems like such a large task in their eyes. Maybe sing the clean up song and help her. Or give her smaller tasks a little at a time. Like lets pick up the puzzle, instead of clean your room.

Answer 2

Does she clean up at home with her parents? If not then that's your culprit. Try cleaning up with her so it seems like she's not doing it all by herself. Whenever my daughter has attitude and tells me no to cleaning up, I'll take her hand and make her pick something up. While I am holding her hand and the object (otherwise she'll drop it) we place it where it needs to go. She then realizes I'm not going to let her get away with it and she will do it on her own (though I am still helping without holding her hand). Don't give in to her being stubborn and don't clean up entirely by yourself. You can do the majority, but make sure she does some.

Answer 3

It seems like a monster to a child! The mess is sooooo overwelming that the child wants nothing to do with it. And Another thing may be that they are used to you picking up all of their messes so they want to keep it that way. Explain to her that she has to clean up of the clean room fairy wont come..My mom used to tell me that there was a room fairy and if I kept my room clean for a whole week then the fairy would come and give me a treat. Good luck.

Answer 4

I sit with a neighbors little 3 yrs old. when time came to clean up the toys, I made it fun time. I pretend like I could put more back than she could, the picking up and putting them back, she laughed the whole time. Let them win of course and tell them , oh no you beat me, praise them for being a big girl. Pratice this, it will work. children love to compete too. Like picking up easter eggs, they want the most.

Answer 5

There's no such thing as the terrible twos, its the terrible threes, trust me.. my niece was like that so what we had to do is when it was time to pack away, we used to play a game and i used to say to her eg " who can pack away the fastest", or when she does start picking up the toys praise her as much as u can by saying " what great helper you are, ur packing away so beautifully" Keep praising and they will listen, however u get upset with them and they will know and they will play up on that.

Answer 6

with my 3 yr. old if i make it a race or a game she will usually help tidy up (at least a little bit!) if it seems like we are having fun even my 18 month old son will get in the game. small children have short attention spans and find many things simply become very borring very quickly, just make it exciting

Answer 7

To get my three yo sister to clean up, we sing the "clean up" song and it goes as follows:
Clean up, clean up
Everybody everywhere
Clean up, clean up
Everybody do their share

I can't tell ya the melody cuz it's hard to explain, but it's a relatively simply song to make up a melody to. Good luck!

Answer 8

We sing the "clean up song" and make a game out of it. Makes it much easier.

Answer 9

Bc it is called there terrible 3. They don't listen or anything bc it is just a stage. They will grow out of it. Don't let her get away with stuff.

Answer 10

Sing sone like its clean up time make it fun and praise them