To have told my children that whilst cleaning the pit they call a bedroom I found

[D0oinMeCleanin]

138 spiders. A colony of wild rats and 2 empty capri sun cartons crawling with maggots?

I only tidied their room last week. It's a total pit again.

They get £5 a week (or rather they don't get) pocket money for keeping their room clean. Clearly this is not enough of an incentive.

I know I shouldn't clean it for them but the mess bothers me greatly.

Of course when they go to bed I will tell them I removed all the insects and pests and as long as they stay clean they shouldn't come back.

The buck is about the right age to become a lot lazier, and bigger :D nice and cuddly though!

Glad to know the girl is staying with some of her little ones too :)

I have to say that when my DC were that age, I used to supervise room tidying.
The 7 year-old is a bit young to do it (properly) entirely on their own.

But they still did it, not me.

I do ask them to do it each night when I'm home and supervise while they are doing it, but with me working evenings they're often home with relatives. Whilst I can ask them to make sure they put things away before getting into bed I can't really kick up a fuss if they don't. They are giving me free childcare after all. If I work for a few nights in a row it can look like a bomb has gone off.

I don't get much time off atm so when I do its quicker and easier just to it myself and then we can get on with our plans for the day. Ideally I'd like them to keep it tidy rather than have to tidy up a messy room iyswim?

My daughter gets told if she leaves biscuit crumbs in her bed she will get mice and horrible insects crawling around in her room for the crumbs she's almost 3 but I'm just teaching her to keep her room cleam lol

Do your DDs rats not wander around the bedroom floor anyway?

tertiumsquid I love your chore box. Don't think it would work for DC's rooms but am nicking that one for the stuff they leave all over the house!

I've never tidied my kids rooms. Well not since they went to school. Man up op

I'm tempted to use the spiders or bugs thing on my DS, but he's terrified of them so that might be a bit cruel...