to make my dd's (6 and 4) tidy up their room all by themselves?

[emkana]

They share a room. I insist they tidy it at least once every two days. They do a fantastic job when they do it, but according to dd1 nobody else in her class has to do it.

I still help DS tidy (he is 5) - I think you could make it more fun for them? Race them etc - that way, they do most of the work but you are a supporting role

my 6yo tidies her own room, though I help occaisionally but she trashes it every night so am refusing to do it everytime.

they have to do it at school so i don't see why not at home

ha ha ha ha ha! wait till you have teenage daughters - they'll need a flamethrower and shovel!

whatever works for you - but IMHO instilling good habits now doesn't mean they will be naturally tidy. I tidy my teen dc's rooms by shutting the door and staying outside. I do think they are quite young and every 2 days is quite often, but maybe I am just a slut

You are teaching them a valuable life lesson. They will be much nicer people to live with in adulthood than their classmates!

In fact it's more like every day

If the room isn't tidied up then there's literally nowhere to put your feet, it's quite small.

This might sound childish, but I take the view that I do everything for them, so this is the one thing that they can contribute to the day-to-day running of the house?

I used to make DD tidy her room. Now she's 12 she more or less ignores me. Tsk. However, she's as good as perfect in other ways, so I've let her win this particular battle.

I would always make younger children do it though, yes.

And all kids say that nobody else has to do it. You usually find out differently by speaking to other children.

DS tidies his own room when I tell him - he's 13.

DD is five. I do ask her to tidy her room for me once a week but then we do it together at the weekend.

Mine do it ages 8 and 3 if it is in a really bad way then I'll help them.

It helps them to look after their stuff although my friend has teenagers and they tidied their rooms from a young age but their rooms now are a total mess all the time! This is because they tidy "in their own time" !!!!

So not sure if our dc tidying their rooms is going to help when they get to teenagers.

I do it with my 9 and 7 year olds. I find they get distracted if I send them to do it.
My 5 and 3 yos share a room and I tidy their's (with a bit of "help" from them).

we have a tidy up time downstairs each day (in theory) and they all have to do that on their own while I'm tidying up the dinner things.

It's surprising how many mn children are the only ones in their class that have to do something. Apparently dd is the ONLY child in her entire school who wears a vest.... Technically this is impossible anyway as ds wears one too. And quite reasonable to ask children of any age to tidy their own rooms.

My four year old went to a friends house.. told him his room was a tip and then proceeded to tidy up!!! I'm mortified! LOL
Titchy my DS says the same thing about vests!

my 3yo helps tidy his bedroom if he's messed it up....and my 21mo likes to join in too....i say to him in a nice cheery voice...'lets tidy up this mess then go downstairs and have some breakfast/lunch or a snack etc....something that makes them think they are getting a reward, but if i get them up and not tidy it then they'd get breakfast still, just i'd have to tidy the room later on my own!!

oh btw YANBU you are teaching them to be a bit more respectful of their bedroom and their toys, not tidying means there is more chance of stepping on something and breaking it. and more chance someone can come round and see their lovely bedroom without saying how messy it is, and you feeling embarresed!!

My DD is 7 and my DS is 3, they have to tidy their rooms everyday, but 'tidy' I mean any dirty washing goes in the laundry basket, toys go in toy boxes and PJ's go under pillow, it really isn't hard.
I then blitz their room once a week, normally on a Saturday morning.