How do you teach your children to pick up after themselves?

Answer 1

If all of the other suggestions don't work, try what I did.

When things got too messy, I gave a few hour warning. If things weren't cleaned up, I did it - and put everything into a garbage bag to go to the garbage collector.

They could not go through the bag to get anything back. If they could describe what was missing I would go and get it for them. Then it had to be put away immediately.

You have to be prepared to be tough and actually throw things away that you paid for. It's a sacrifice to insure that after a time or two your kids will get the message and clean up their act - and their stuff.

Never say anything that you aren't prepared to do. Always follow thorough by doing what you say. Consistancy is a major key to earning respect and cooperation.

Answer 2

I started when my daughter was 10 months old. i had her pick up one thing. When she was about 1-2 years we had a game of picking up the most the fastest. By 2 and a half she was expected to clean up when I asked, no games involved. She got a reward afterwards. By 3 or 4 she tried to refuse. This is the age where I introduced a consequence or reward. She could choose. One way got a reward. One way got a conseuqences. I have a lifesaver tip for those dwadlers. KITCHEN TIMER. If done before it rings you get a reward. If not, you get a consequence. She is now seven and I give her a few days warning. I go into her room every weekend with a garbage bag in my hand. Funny, i have only had to put stuff in it one time! lol

Answer 3

My son is three, and he has a few simple chores that he *has* to do. They are:

1. Put all the stuffed animals he sleeps with back into their basket every morning;

2. Unpack his lunchbox and put it away at nursery school;

3. Bring his juice cup into the kitchen after dinner.

We're starting small, but he almost always does these things without a lot of hassle. We also turn cleaning up into a game - counting out the blocks as we put them back in their box, "driving" his Matchbox cars and "parking" them.

It's like anything - when I'm on top of it and stay consistent about it, he's good. When I'm tired or pulled too thin and let it slide, he notices. And next thing you know, I'm tripping over Matchbox cars again. ;)

But I do think that, over time, the tendency is for him to put things back and do his simple chores without complaint. I figure we'll add on as it seems appropriate, but for now the three jobs above and helping during clean up seem like what he can do.

It's hard for me to remember that "put your toys away!" doesn't have a lot of meaning for him, and that he has to be shown.

Answer 4

If they're little, try singing some kind of song and showing them. The Clean Up song (Clean up, clean up, everybody do their share....) is most common. You can either teach them to put something away as soon as they're done using it or when they're completely finished playing with everything.
I'd suggest showing them were to put things or putting colored labels on toys. In my house in the closet we have a 2 shelves all with different color stickers. Then all the toys have different stickers on them. The blue sticker toys go on the blue shelf etc. (Just so the toys with small pieces are out of the reach of my 3yr)
When in doubt, make a game out of it. My kids have races to see who can clean up the area first.
Best Wishes =]
Best Wishes =]

Answer 5

Just do it with them(AND MAKE IT INTO A GAME YOU COULD EVEN SING A SONG ABOUT IT N EVERYTHING) and make them do most of it you should just be saying pick this up and put it here and you do the same and after 2 or 3 times they will do it by themselves.

Answer 6

You have to start young. I tell my kids to pick up and they have a time limit. If I have to tell them more than three times to pick something up it becomes mine and they don't get it back. It works, because they know I am serious.

Answer 7

With my kids...well it tends to be an exercise in futility....LOL. We start early. With our youngest (2) pulls out a toy and I see him quit playing with it....I pick it up and tell him to put it away. My 3 yr old and 7 yr old are in charge of putting away their toys every night.

All the toys have a real specific spot and every time I put them away I show him "This is where the truck goes...this is where the blocks go" stuff like that. They don't always get it all the time...and they certainly don't WANT to do it all the time...BUT when I say...put that away they all KNOW where it belongs.

I started them all early as well....I always picked up after them until they were at least 1 1/2. Every time I put something away I pointed out where it went. At 1 1/2...I started demanding that only one toy got brought out and put away before another was put away. I would walk my child and "help" them put it away when they selected a different toy...and made sure that they heard me say "ok, you want to play with the truck..then the doll needs to go back to it's home" And I would put the doll away in front of them.

My 7 yr old still does this...he cleans his entire room all by himself every night no problems. He DOES get mad about HAVING to do it...but he gets an allowance for it every week ($1) and so he'll do it.

You just have to keep after them...and NEVER GIVE UP. What might work today....might not work tomorrow. Just know that you have to communicate to your children that it's their responsibility to clean up after themselves...and eventually they WILL UNDERSTAND.
Good luck.

Answer 8

Everything is a game... Playing with the toys AND picking them up... I would say just make it a game and keep it fun...

Answer 9

i just posted a question similiar to this and i just now gave a good answer to a woman who suggested that you take things away from their room each time they dont do a chore. however i modified that great idea with this rule:
every item my children leaves on the floor (and i dont think kindly of having $35 video games strewn on the floor, clean clothes and dirty clothes mixed together, paper, pens, markers, toys...etc) it will be placed in a time out basket for ONE WEEK. and if for some reason there is something in that basket they MUST HAVE like home work, their shoes or a jacket that was place in time out basket because it was dumped on the floor where it doenst belong, then they can get it back by making a payment. the payment is simple, YOU the parent finds something that is in it's proper place and put it in the basket to serve the original time out items place.
for ex. let's say my son left his jacket on the floor, i put it in time out for a week. but he needs the jacket. so i get to choose what to replace it with, and you can bet i'll choose the video game he loves the most.
it's called creative parenting. and i am not going to have some woman tell me her husband, my son was never raised to pick up after himself! lol i'm trying to raise decent men here! so that they dont grow up and make some poor woman miserable because he's a slob of a husband!

Answer 10

start young and if you did not, then deprive them of tv or play time unless they have put away their clothes and/or toys. Clean up comes first....

Answer 11

When it is time to clean up, I ask my daughter to help Mommy pick up the toys. She helps me, and I do a lot of encouragement... such as"Good Job" "What a big girl" " Look how Devon helps Mommy pick up the toys" This gets her excited about doing it. She is now to the point where I will ask her to pick them up and she will.

I think the best way to go about it is to make it seem like fun, not a chore. Who wants to do chores?! :-)