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5 yr old madam will NOT help tidy up!

1 reply

goldpendant · 16/02/2021 20:31

Looking for advice please!

We have a sweet, smart and kind 5yo daughter who is an absolute dream, except when it comes to her mess...

The bedroom she shares with DS looks like a bomb has gone off, permanently. It's a huge room they each have plenty of space/storage and they like sharing (this won't be forever just the next few years, besides which her older brother is extremely tolerant of it).

She has so many bits and pieces - she takes everything apart from where it came, eg Hama beads no longer in the tub in the craft drawer, they are in various pots in her room. Toiletries taken from bathroom and made their way to dolls house, everything is ALL over the place. I can't even move in the bedroom it is a genuine trip hazard.

Part of the issue is having too much stuff I think (though honestly if it was tidied away it'd be fine). But mostly it's that she is like a tornado, she can tear through a tidy organised room in no time and genuinely seems to enjoy pottering about in the chaos.

I really struggle to play with her because there's nowhere to sit for a start and it drives me crackers to keep finding things I thought I had list it need to go back down stairs etc.

Clearly a few issues here; firstly I know I should get tough with her when it comes to moving our things, or things from other rooms of the house. But mostly I need to know how much I should be instilling on a 5yo, I don't want to make her a tidy freak but I look at the carnage and it's utterly depressing. Toys, clothes, books, stationary, craft kit just strewn about the place.

How much should a 5yo be doing to keep their bedroom tidy?

TIA

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Jannt86 · 16/02/2021 20:47

She's old enough to understand consequences. Agree with her that she needs to keep her room tidy. Help her organise it all first off as it may be a big job that realistically a 5YO can't manage alone but then agree that if something is out of place and she refuses to tidy it up then it's taken away then follow through with that. You don't need to get cross with her or even 'i told you so'. Apologise and acknowledge that she's upset if she's upset but remind her that you agreed you'd stay tidy and that that's the condition of having toys to play with. Having said this I wouldn't personally just leave crafty things out for her to have free access to tbh. I think it is a lot to expect a 5 year old to keep something like this organised. Could you lock things like that up when not in use and supervise her packing it back up?

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