Help - how can I make DD (nearly 10) pick up after herself

[wangle99]

Help before I go mad... DD (10 next month) is hopeless at picking up after herself. I swear she should have been born male as she just doesn't 'see' anything she's left out.

I am sick of it.

Any ideas to help me here? I can't really put in bin bag and either keep somewhere or throw away as we are talking school work/ school shoes etc

Thank you!

I also have a 10 year old dd, and she doesnt see anything either!
Constant reminding. Just make the whole household grind to a halt, eg no supper served, until she has put her school work away.
In extremes, I resort to pocket money fines, which usually work. If I do end up fining them, they have to do something super-good to get the money back. To date, we've never reached Saturday with a fine outstanding!

tell her that anything she leaves about after leaving the room will be thrown away as she obviously fdoesn't want it.

next time she does leave something out, take it and store it away somewhere she wont find it.

when she asks for it back tell her that you warned her.

hopefully it will be enough of a sharp shock that she will not dare to leave anything around anymore....although it may need to happen more than once to prove you weren't kidding.

once she has finally taken thehint and stops leaving a trail of destruction behind her you can sneakily hide the items you took back in her room.

give her a very small bedroom and tell her anything found on the floor will be binned, anythinkg found around the house you will chuck in her bedroom......it's working so far! I have also encouraged dd to regularly sort thru stuff and chuck stuff out which makes it easier as you've got space to keep the stuff you need easier.

OP said she couldnt do the binning thing because its stuff like school books and shoes.

who gets into trouble for not having the school work? if it means getting an hour's detention because she cannot produc teh work then its her own fault and may well help hammer home the point.

you oculd always call teh school and inform her class teacher of what you are propsoing so that you get teh back up from school as well. they may make her do the schoolwork again in her lunch break or something.

i think it definatlyhelps them realise that they are responsible for themsleves and their posessions.

I always introduce Mr Black BinBag. I know it's school stuff but I've told mine that if it's important enough to them then they will keep it safe.... pop it in a box, on their desk etc. It works!

Thanks for your messages so far...

The reason I feel guilty about school things is because DD has a very high scholarship to an independent school so ALOT at stake here!!

I dont do the bin bag with school work, because my children are still adjusting to school in a new language, and they have had a lot of criticism from the school for allegedly being too slow to learn.