If you have a cleaner, do they do the teenagers' rooms?

[AdventureBe]

ATM, DSs are responsible for their own rooms. In reality that pretty much means I close the door and pretend not to notice, then in the school holidays I force them to have a bit of a blitz.

I'm going back to work FT in shortly and we will be having a cleaner. I'm not sure what to do about the boys' rooms. I still think they should be responsible themselves and I'm not sure it's reasonable to ask anyone else to clean up after them, or for them to think that's OK. OTOH, it would be nice to have those rooms clean and to remove one battle hassle from my life.

DS1 particularly, would prefer it that his room isn't touched, but then he's not doing it properly himself.

Well cleaners clean not tidy. So personally I would say yes get cleaner to dust is space and Hoover if space. So basically teens need to choose whether floor is kept clear so cleaner can Hoover, if it's covered if clutter she will just move on to next room.

That goes for all rooms though imo. Ie if living room or kitchen are messy she can't possibly clean sides or floors properly.

Yes, but as art says, she just cleans in there. She does the bare minimum in DD's room - vacuums weekly and dusts fortnightly. It's DD's responsibility to make the bed, keep the room tidy, put away clean laundry etc.

I have a cleaner but no teenagers.

BUT I have worked in boarding schools and had to negotiate tense relationships between teens and cleaners!

I would brief the cleaner to hoover/clean if the room is clean enough but to totally ignore if it's a mess. Then I would tell the teenager that they were to make their room 'cleaner ready' each week- so rubbish in bin/clothes in wash/off floor on chair/in wardrobe shoved on floor of wardrobe with door shut I'd ignore Every few weeks I'd demand desks/other surfaces were clean enough for dusting - even if that means dumping all stuff on bed and put back after school.

Accept in your head that it won't happen every week, but aim for a decent clean at reasonable intervals!

I think that's what's making me think maybe not Artandco. I'll be paying for very little to be done in those rooms most weeks, if it's on the basis of clean what you can see. The boys won't see getting their floor hovered as motivation to tidy. They're good boys but they're not bothered whether their rooms are clean or not.

The rest of the house is generally clutter free. Honest!

Yes. Cleaner cleans. If there's stuff on the floor she puts it into plastic containers. Actually she is fab and takes pity on them and puts their dirties in the linen basket, folds stuff and outs away. She's been with us for years though

Oh heck, I already have this with my 7yo's room - often tell the cleaner not to bother as it's in such a state. There is no hope, is there?!

Our cleaner does my teenage DD's room but i insist on it being tidied before she comes. This includes picking everything up off the floor and putting dirty clothes in the laundry bin.

I tell her that our cleaner is there to clean not to tidy. The same goes for DS whoc has to pick up all the loose bits of lego off his floor.

Ah lego. DS1 spends a lot of time with his lego figures and toy soldiers, setting out huge battle layouts. Sometimes they can be there for weeks....it doesn't feel right to ask him to put his "work" away just so the floor can be hovered.

I do often understand why some children spend so much time in front of screens!

If they wont appreciate her efforts in there then I wouldnt get her to bother.

What id suggest is whenever you go away on holiday, force the dcs to make their rooms tidy and that week just get her to go in and deep clean them then.

I just tell kids if Lego if on floor cleaner is fully entitled to hoover it up! It doesn't ruin their play by tidying up. They do Lego at the table 99% of the time anyway so it's out the way. It's hardly stiffling play to get him to lift it onto drawers/ sideboard/ table the night before cleaner comes.

We have 'clean for the cleaner' every Thursday night before bed.

They have to make sure their rooms are tidy and clutter free so that she can get in and hoover & dust; they are also not allowed friends in their rooms or for sleepovers if their rooms are a shit-tip.

I deep clean their rooms properly every few months, but by enforcing clean for the cleaner once a week their rooms never get past the point of no return!

House rule when I had a cleaner and teenagers was she hoovered if the floors in their rooms were clear . She had strict instructions not to do anything else, including dusting . The principle being that adults are not there (paid or not) to tidy up after teenagers . They blitzed occasionally when I couldn't stand it any longer.
I learnt to close doors and ignore mess .And to pick my battles. I did weaken and put away any ironed ( by cleaning lady) clothing as I couldn't bear for it to sit there and get crumpled/mixed up with other stuff.
DD1 (29) is now quite tidy. DD2 (25) is not .

Yes, although ds1 (19) is home from uni and his room is an absolute mess, so I've told her not to do his until he's cleared and tidied.

But if he puts it on the table ArtandCo, she can't clean that. Most of his creations are on the windowsill or along the edges of the bookcase.

Thats' exactly what I was thinking I might do ThinkIveBeenHacked

I theory clean for the cleaner evenings make sense, but in practise there will always be days when they "forget" or I'm late home and there's not much time between dinner and bed etc. I know it's a cop out, but the point of the cleaner is to make life easier, not create new hassles.

Well cleaners clean not tidy.

This is something my mother (who does not have a cleaner) cannot understand. She mocks me for tidying up (which she calls cleaning) for the cleaner. I've tried to explain that as we both work f/t, we have time to tidy or time to clean but not both. We pay our cleaner to clean, which she can't do if all our shit is all over the place.

As for our kids (they're not teenagers yet), we will try to get the rooms tidy (i.e. floor clear) most weeks, but sometimes the playroom doesn't get done because they haven't tidied it when asked or they have an elaborate train track etc set up which we're loathed to take down. In which case we just add into our weekly note to ignore that room.

Absolutely. Resolving the disgustingness that is teenage boy is outsourced!

At see I would wipe table quick most days anyway after a meal so table not being cleaned by cleaner is fine here. I would rather floors hovered and mopped as that would take us much longer.

Some cleaners do actually tidy also, but then it's moving more into housekeeping territory and paying more as more hours needed.
I think children regardless of parental wealth still need to learn that leaving dirty underwearfor example for someone else tidy just isn't respectful. Same with old cups/ plates just put in sink or dishwasher at least even with a full time housekeeper

We are a cleaning comapny and yes we do have it within our terms that clients must pick up the house before our teams can clean.

As per teenagers rooms, some clients have us do them and some say leave them as they are a mess, we quote accordingly as to the scope of the work, if rooms are left out of the scope of the work to be done then the price can be set as lower at the sales appointment.

*company